By Gary Raynaldo    DIPLOMATIC TIMES

MEPs called for new presidential elections in Belarus and urged the European Union to sanction President Lukashenko. Backing Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the EPP Group joined with other political forces Thursday  in the European Parliament in a virtual event with her to show their support. The EPP Group and other MEPs call for an end to the crackdown by the government of Aleksander Lukashenko, who sparked more than a month of protests after claiming a re-election victory after a rigged vote. MEPs are calling for new elections and EU sanctions to pressure the government.  Tsikhanouskaya has urged the international community including the United Nations to impose sanctions on individuals in the Belarus government of President Lukashenko  amid the recent elections she contends were fraudulent.  Longtime President Lukashenko won 80.23% of the vote, with rival challenger  Tikhanovskaya receiving 9.9%.  of ballots in the August 8 elections.  Tikhanovskaya  fled the country in the aftermath of the disputed presidential elections.  Tikhanovskaya  is in exile in Lithuania where she continues to speak out against the election results. 

European Parliament calls for adoption of effective sanctions on Belarus

In a resolution adopted by 574 votes in favour, 37 against with 82 abstentions on Thursday, the European Parliament rejects the official results of the “so-called presidential elections” in Belarus on 9 August this year, as these elections were conducted in a “flagrant violation of all internationally recognised standards”. Once the term of office for the incumbent authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko expires on 5 November, Parliament will no longer recognise him as the president of the country.  MEPs called for EU sanctions against the group of individuals responsible for falsifying the election results and for the violent repression in Belarus, including President Lukashenko, and call on EU member states in the Council to implement these restrictive measures without delay, in close coordination with international partners. MEPs also staunchly condemned the mass arrests and ongoing violent crackdown on peaceful protesters, strike leaders and journalists in the country, with many reports of ill-treatment, rape and torture emerging from Belarusian detention centres and jails.