Credit: Wikipedia /  Belarus Opposition challenger Svetlana Tikhanovskaya 

By Gary Raynaldo      DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

Belarus main opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya  has fled the country in the aftermath of Sunday’s disputed presidential elections.  Tikhanovskaya reportedly left Belarus and is in Lithuania after she asserted that the re-election of incumbent President Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko  was fraudulent.    Longtime President Lukashenko won 80.23% of the vote, with rival challenger  Tikhanovskaya receiving 9.9%.  Critics  immediately denounced Lukashenko’s landslide victory as being rigged and mass protests erupted with thousands taking to the streets of capital city Minsk and across the country to vent frustration.  Opposition candidate Tikhanovskaya and political observers claimed the voting results were rigged. In a YouTube video,  Tikhanovskaya said left Belarus  for her children as protests continued for a second night.  One person has died.

Tikhanovskaya told a press conference Monday morning that the vote had seen massive fraud and that she was the winner of the election.

“We don’t recognize the results of the election. We have seen the real ballot results. We call on those who believe that their vote has been stolen not to keep silent.”

Tikhanovskaya said.

Svetlana #Tikhanovskaya is safe. She is in #Lithuania. pic.twitter.com/6f9U2meoX0

— Linas Linkevicius (@LinkeviciusL) August 11, 2020

Comment from FM 🇱🇹 @LinkeviciusL on #Belarus and Svetlana #Tikhanovskaya, after a Press Conference at the MFA. pic.twitter.com/IoWL2m0Cc0

— Lithuania MFA (@LithuaniaMFA) August 11, 2020

European Union Condemns BELARUS Election, Violence Against Protesters

European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell sharply criticized  Sunday’s presidential elections in Belarus for the  “disproportionate and unacceptable state violence against peaceful protesters”.