BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

09/04/2006

Lukashenko blasts West for promoting unrest after election

EUcalled the vote 'fundamentally flawed'

MINSK, Belarus

President Alexander Lukashenko was sworn in for a third term yesterday and assailed the West for fomenting unrest after an election protested as fraudulent and undemocratic.

Several thousand officials and legislators gave a standing ovation as Lukashenko took his oath during a ceremony at the Palace of the Republic. In a brief speech, he blamed Western nations for protests against his re-election.

Lukashenko has faced international condemnation of the March 19 election, which he won with 83 percent of the vote, according to official results.

"They want to humiliate our nation and turn it into another testing ground for a color revolution," he said in a reference to protests that helped oust unpopular governments in other former Soviet nations, such as Ukraine's "Orange Revolution."

Lukashenko has ruled Belarus, a former Soviet nation, since 1994 and has been labeled Europe's last dictator for his relentless crackdown on dissent.

Police encircled the building where Lukashenko was sworn in and blocked the public from entering other areas of Minsk in an apparent effort to prevent the opposition from staging rallies.

"Lukashenko grabbed victory through force and lies," the main opposition candidate, Alexander Milinkevich, who got only about 6 percent of votes, told The Associated Press. "The civilized world doesn't recognize Lukashenko, and he will find it hard to convince the Belarusian people of his victory."

Thousands demonstrated in Minsk after the election to protest the result, and hundreds were jailed after the breakup of a tent camp and a violent clash with riot police.

Alexander Kozulin, another opposition leader who ran to challenge Lukashenko, has been in jail since leading a march last month. He was charged with organizing mass disturbances.

Kozulin's wife, Irina, told the AP that he sent another appeal to the nation's Supreme Court yesterday, demanding to invalidate the election results.

The European Union is expected next week to approve a visa ban on 31 top Belarus officials - including Lukashenko - in a response to the election.

The 25 European leaders said that the presidential vote was "fundamentally flawed" and that they would "take restrictive measures against those ... responsible for the violation of international electoral standards."

Source:

http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137835243259&path=!nationworld&s=