MINSK, 24 December (BelTA) - The latest episode of the documentary series Time Chose Us by the Belarus 1 TV channel looked back at the presidential election in Belarus in 2010 and the reaction of the opposition to their loss, BelTA learned.
In December 2010 Belarusians saw what chaos and unrest were. After the presidential election, a color revolution was attempted in our country. Before Belarus the scenario had already been tested in other countries, for example, Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. It was applied in Belarus practically without any changes. By the way, the goal was similar: to replace the authorities undesirable to the collective West and take the country under external control.
The presidential election was open and democratic. Ten candidates were running. Among them were representatives of various opposition parties. But for a color revolution, a reason is often not required.
“Xerox copies were conspicuous. We saw perfectly well that the same few people were collecting signatures for at least three candidates and providing them to different campaigns. By the way, they paid handsomely for collecting signatures,” recalls Lidia Yermoshina, former chairwoman of the Central Election Commission of Belarus.
It was easier to gather a crowd for protests, which were bound to turn into pogroms and clashes with the police, than, for example, in 2006. The Internet was already widespread. As Lidia Yermoshina notes, they attracted women to the protests under the pretext that there would be a lot of “handsome guys”.
Aleksandr Lukashenko won the election with almost 80% of the vote.
“Who did I vote for? My son told me: “Please, Daddy, don't say who we voted for. We have a secret ballot.” So I won't tell. I promised,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said in a conversation with journalists.
Almost 6.5% of Belarusians ticked the box ‘against all’. The opponents of the authorities gained from 0.5% to less than 2.5%.
Provocations were launched from the first day of early voting. Alternative candidates were aware of their actual low support and saw no other way but to disrupt the voting. They used a variety of tricks, including illegal ones. The CEC members and even their relatives received threats of physical violence. This was the first instance of blatantly extremist actions in our country.
The internet and social networks were widely used to dispute the results of the vote and prepare riots. The opposition openly declared that they would take power through protests, despite the outcome of the vote. Groups on social networks called to overthrow the constitutional order in Belarus. As a result, in the evening after the vote, the crowd first flooded Independence Avenue, blocking traffic, and then went to the Government House.
The leaders of the so-called opposition were controlled from abroad, which was later proved by evidence. One of the opposition candidates received instructions from a person he had met in Kiev ahead of these events. "Sit in Sidorsky's chair and press the buttons," one of the instructions reads. It was about Sergei Sidorsky, who at the time held the post of prime minister.
"Our special services recorded these... Do you know where the command center for our maidan in 2010 was? In Kiev. We have the records of individual instructions for breaking down doors and taking government seats. I still remember these conversations," the Belarusian leader said in one of his interviews.
Protesting at the Government House, the crowd decided to storm the building. The riots started. The crowd began to smash the windows of the entrance doors. The law enforcers restored order on the square in accordance with the practices of any Western democratic country.
Although those "democratic countries" condemned Belarus. Later, pro-Western propagandists would linger on the fact that the Government House was stormed by "provocateurs from the special services”. But each of the participants was identified and brought to justice. All of them, certainly, were opposition supporters.
You can learn more about the big events of our country's history in BelTA's YouTube project How It Was.
In December 2010 Belarusians saw what chaos and unrest were. After the presidential election, a color revolution was attempted in our country. Before Belarus the scenario had already been tested in other countries, for example, Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. It was applied in Belarus practically without any changes. By the way, the goal was similar: to replace the authorities undesirable to the collective West and take the country under external control.
The presidential election was open and democratic. Ten candidates were running. Among them were representatives of various opposition parties. But for a color revolution, a reason is often not required. “Xerox copies were conspicuous. We saw perfectly well that the same few people were collecting signatures for at least three candidates and providing them to different campaigns. By the way, they paid handsomely for collecting signatures,” recalls Lidia Yermoshina, former chairwoman of the Central Election Commission of Belarus.
It was easier to gather a crowd for protests, which were bound to turn into pogroms and clashes with the police, than, for example, in 2006. The Internet was already widespread. As Lidia Yermoshina notes, they attracted women to the protests under the pretext that there would be a lot of “handsome guys”.
Aleksandr Lukashenko won the election with almost 80% of the vote.
“Who did I vote for? My son told me: “Please, Daddy, don't say who we voted for. We have a secret ballot.” So I won't tell. I promised,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said in a conversation with journalists.Almost 6.5% of Belarusians ticked the box ‘against all’. The opponents of the authorities gained from 0.5% to less than 2.5%.
Provocations were launched from the first day of early voting. Alternative candidates were aware of their actual low support and saw no other way but to disrupt the voting. They used a variety of tricks, including illegal ones. The CEC members and even their relatives received threats of physical violence. This was the first instance of blatantly extremist actions in our country.
The internet and social networks were widely used to dispute the results of the vote and prepare riots. The opposition openly declared that they would take power through protests, despite the outcome of the vote. Groups on social networks called to overthrow the constitutional order in Belarus. As a result, in the evening after the vote, the crowd first flooded Independence Avenue, blocking traffic, and then went to the Government House.
The leaders of the so-called opposition were controlled from abroad, which was later proved by evidence. One of the opposition candidates received instructions from a person he had met in Kiev ahead of these events. "Sit in Sidorsky's chair and press the buttons," one of the instructions reads. It was about Sergei Sidorsky, who at the time held the post of prime minister."Our special services recorded these... Do you know where the command center for our maidan in 2010 was? In Kiev. We have the records of individual instructions for breaking down doors and taking government seats. I still remember these conversations," the Belarusian leader said in one of his interviews. Protesting at the Government House, the crowd decided to storm the building. The riots started. The crowd began to smash the windows of the entrance doors. The law enforcers restored order on the square in accordance with the practices of any Western democratic country.
Although those "democratic countries" condemned Belarus. Later, pro-Western propagandists would linger on the fact that the Government House was stormed by "provocateurs from the special services”. But each of the participants was identified and brought to justice. All of them, certainly, were opposition supporters.
You can learn more about the big events of our country's history in BelTA's YouTube project How It Was.
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