BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

27/11/2006

Belarusian President Claims He Stole Votes From Himself

While speaking with Ukrainian journalists in Minsk on November 23, President Lukashenka admitted to rigging the March 19 presidential election, in which he officially obtained 83 percent of the vote, RFE/RL's Belarus Service and Belapan reported. But Lukashenka claimed that he falsified the election in favor of his rivals. "Yes, we falsified the last election. I have already told the Westerners [about this]. As many as 93.5 percent of voters voted for President Lukashenka. But they said this was not a 'European' result. So we made it 86 [percent]," he said. "The Europeans told us before the election that if there were 'European' figures in the election, they would recognize our election. And we tried to make European figures," Lukashenka explained, noting that the move nevertheless has not resulted in recognition of the ballot. Meanwhile, Mikalay Lazavik, secretary of Belarus's Central Election Commission (TsVK), said on November 24 that the TsVK "is not aware of any fraud" in the March presidential election. According to Lazavik, the official results reflect the "genuine will" of the people. JM

Source: