Lukashenka or Lukashenka? Elections* without Choice in Belarus

For the seventh time, Belarus is staging the ritual of “electing” Aliaksandr Lukashenka as president, in a climate of fear and repression against free media, civil society, and genuine opposition.
Over 1,250 political prisoners, including nearly all of Lukashenka’s former rivals, remain imprisoned for challenging the fraudulent 2020 elections.
Critics are labeled “extremists,” and the campaign excludes any candidates openly opposing the regime. Independent observers are barred, and hundreds of thousands of Belarusians have fled the country.
Does Lukashenka need elections to legitimize his dictatorial rule? Why is he holding elections six months ahead of schedule? What role do politically biased international observers play amid the exclusion of independent monitoring? What can be expected from the seventh term of an aging Lukashenka?
*The term “elections*” in relation to the 2025 election campaign is used with an asterisk to emphasize the conventionality of this term, since any free and fair election campaign presupposes all conditions under which rights and freedoms are fully realized, including freedom of speech, freedom of peaceful meetings and associations, the right to participate in the governance of one’s state, freedom from discrimination, which are currently practically absent in Belarus.
On the panel:
▶Dmitry Chernyh, Acting Chairman, Belarusian Helsinki Committee, Belarus
▶Pavel Sapelka, Lawyer, Human Rights Center "Viasna", Belarus
▶Daryna Sterina, Project Manager, Election Integrity Team, European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE)
▶Alex Shlyk, Independent Election Expert
Moderated by Adam Busuleanu, Senior Programme Officer, European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE)
Find more information about our work at epde.org