People choose jail and exile, Belarus president Lukashenko tells BBC

I have been informed in many elections.

I have seen the prime ministers and the presidents arising at the polling stations, the polls, and then take some questions from the correspondents.

But I have never seen anything like the scene at the 478 polling station in Minsk.

The leader of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, who was called “the last dictator in Europe”, arrived for his vote. After that, while the Belarusians were still voting, the candidate Lukashenko presented a four -hour press conference on the air on State TV.

It was an opportunity to test him about the controversial vote, whose critics have been criticized as a “trick.”

“What is the miserable question I prepared for me?” He asked. “As you always do.”

“Good morning”, I answered.

“Good morning, Steve.”

“How can you call this democratic elections, when your competitors are in prison or exile?” I asked.

“Some are in prison, others are in exile. But you are here!” Lukashenko said.

“Everyone has the right to choose. This is democracy. Some have chosen prison, while others chose exile. We have not forced anyone to leave the country.”

In fact, it was the brutal authorities’ campaign for the demonstrators after the 2020 presidential elections that led to Alexander Lukashenko prison, the strongest opponents either imprisoned or pushed them to political exile. Personal choice did not come to it.

I said recently, “We should not close people’s mouths.” [silence people]”I reminded him.

“But your competitors are not left off the poll. Some have been imprisoned. There are currently more than 1,200 political prisoners in Belarus. Didn’t it time to open and release prison cells? People like Maria Colinnikova, Sergey Tikhanski …”

“You continue in Maria for me. My God,” Lukashenko sighed.

“Well, I will answer your question … The prison is intended for people who opened their mouths very widely and who broke the law. Do you not have prisons in Britain and America?”

“In any country, if you break the law, the consequences should be tolerated,” continued. “The law is strict, but it is the law. I did not invent it. You need to adhere to it.”

“You need to adhere to the law.” “But these people are in prison to criticize you.”

“The ignorance of the law does not relieve you of responsibility before that.”

Although not allowed to run opposition figures, Alexander Lukashenko was not the only one in voting. There were four other candidates. But they encountered more spoilers than serious competitors.

“We talked to some other candidates,” she told Lukashenko. “One of them, the leader of the Communist Party, supports you publicly. Others are full of praise for you. They are strange elections, right, with opponents like this …”

“Steve, this is a completely new experience for you!” He answered, laughing and applause from local journalists in the room.

I said: “This is true.” “I haven’t seen elections like this before.”

“The policy of Justice -based Communists is the same policy that we promote,” Lukashenko said. “Why do they vote against me?”

The head of the European Union’s foreign policy, Kaja Calas, described this presidential election in Belarus as “a flagrant insult to democracy.”

It is not that Alexander Lukashenko seems to be interested.

He told me: “I swear to you, I did not care whether you are getting to know our election or whether you are not doing it. The most important thing for me is that the people of Belarus are to know about it.”