Issue 2024, 4: Revisiting Electoral Tactics in Belarus: Local Elections 2018
Lukashenka is not going to undermine or change electoral strategies that have worked well for sustaining the regime. But the regime will be employing other non-electoral strategies to hold on to its power. The established political system maintains a number of preemptive mechanisms that prevent public mobilization and collective action. The detention of independent journalists on the bogus charges of non-authorized access and the case against the chairman of the independent labor union, who is currently on trial, just confirm that the regime does not shy away from using selective prosecution when it is needed. Now, with the tightening control over the online space, Lukashenka wants to prevent any surprises such as the public mobilization against the infamous unemployment tax.
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