BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
19/12/2010
Belarus' authoritarian leader seeks new term
MINSK, Belarus (AP) - Belarus' authoritarian leader, a frequent antagonist of both Russia and the West, seeks a fourth term in Sunday elections, and his opponents claim he's prepared to commit fraud to get it.
President Alexander Lukashenko has led Belarus since 1994 in a heavy-handed regime that is often characterized as the last dictatorship in Europe. The 56-year-old Lukashenko maintains a quasi-Soviet state in the country of 10 million, allowing no independent broadcast media, stifling dissent and keeping about 80 percent of the industry under state control.
Although once seen as almost a lapdog of Russia, Lukashenko in recent years has quarreled intensively with the Kremlin as Russia raised prices for the below-market gas and oil on which Belarus' economy depends.
Source:
http://www.wrex.com/Global/story.asp?S=13707359
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