The Belarusian authorities’ fears about a new wave of Belomaidan, which the opposition will timed to coincide with the referendum on changes to the constitution scheduled for February 2022, appear to be unfounded.
Numerous and scattered organizations of fugitive oppositionists are now conducting endless consultations, and they do not have a clear plan.
Franak Vyachorko, an adviser to the self-proclaimed “leader of the Belarusian nation” Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, said this on Euroradio, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“We believe that our task is to disrupt this referendum. So that it does not happen or is simply not appointed. But if he is appointed, so that Lukashenko will not be able to collect how many votes he needs. We do not believe that this referendum has anything in common with the expression of will, with elections. And we also don’t think that now, after 2020, we need to prove that we are the majority. I think that this referendum campaign is to show that not only are we the majority, we are also able to mobilize and demonstrate that we are the majority.
Now the only tactics that have not been agreed upon are how we will disrupt the referendum: by voting against, by spoiling the ballot, by not taking part. The majority is inclined to use the referendum to demonstrate their position, to take advantage of the fact that they can come to the polling stations, but at the same time not exclude those who are boycotting. Because the boycott is also an attempt to disrupt the referendum,” Vyachorko explained confusingly.
Previously, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have repeatedly stated that they see a constitutional reform that will consolidate the redistribution of power by resolving the political crisis in Belarus. Lukashenko himself promised to hold presidential elections after the adoption of the new constitution, for which he will not stand as a candidate.