Central Election Commission of Belarus Counts Victory for Lukashenko (By www.kommersant.com)

2006-03-24

By www.kommersant.com

"The election campaign went over evenly. In arrangement, those were the best elections over the whole period of my work. Observers and election commission worked accurately, practically with no errors," said Lidia Yermoshina, head of the Central Election Commission.

It appears former presidential candidates Alexander Milinkevich and Alexander Kozulin think different. They applied to the Election Commission seeking invalidation for elections but were not sustained there. "They don't have a single evidence that the law was violated during the process. Should there be some, it wouldn't be just a hundred of people freezing on the square for money. It would be a real split in the society," Yermoshina pointed out.

Meanwhile, the rallies of the opposition are going on four days in a row. An encampment of 35 tents is attentively watched by enforcement bodies. The officers avoid direct standoff with the opposition, preferring to arrest activists as they are leaving the square. Close confidants of Milinkevich - Anatoly Lebedko and Alexander Dobrovolsky - have been detained already, while the overall number of arrested has exceeded 100.

The final and most massive rallies of the opposition against the third term of Alexander Lukashenko's ruling are planned for March 25.