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The victory of Alexander Lukashenko results from his policies
of duping the people. This is the opinion of the First Deputy
Head of the Yabloko faction in the State Duma Sergei Ivanenko,
expressed in an interview with RBC on the results of the presidential
elections in Belarus on September 9, 2001.
Ivanenko also indicated that violations [of law] might have happened
during the presidential elections in Belarus. However, the policies
of manipulating the people played a key role in the outcome of
the elections. “I don’t think that in a union with Belarus headed
by Lukashenko Russia can achieve serious results, as he [Lukashenko]
has only one task – preservation of his personal power,” thinks
Ivanenko.
He also said that the situation where a number of Byelorussian
and Russian mass media pictured the Byelorussian opposition as
the “enemy of the people” aroused serious concern. “History demonstrates
that such treatment and manipulation of people who think differently
cannot lead to anything good,” noted Ivanenko.
At the same time, Ivanenko pointed out that the joint candidate
from the opposition Vladimir Goncharik acted befittingly in the
conditions created in the country. According to Ivanenko, the
Russian mass media, which mostly supported Lukashenko, greatly
influenced the outcome of the presidential elections in Belarus.
Ivanenko also thinks that the West would probably not implement
any policies aimed at isolating Belarus, but added that: “no one
will pretend that Belarus is a normal European country.”
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