‘Delukashenisation’ Awaiting Belarus

• Valeryj Karbalevich
• 3.10.2024, 14:15

The country is ready for changes.

The politician, who will come to power after Lukashenka, will be able to gain internal legitimacy only through ‘delukashenisation’, says Valeryj Karbalevich, political observer of ‘Radio Svaboda’, author of a biographical book about the Belarusian dictator.

According to him, during the mass protests in 2020, Aliaksandr Lukashenka could afford to ignore the will of the majority of the people, because for a quarter of a century he ‘has built a system of power for himself, created an obedient state apparatus, formed a loyal elite, which he could rely on in a critical moment’.

And gaining internal legitimacy, he believes, will be possible ‘only through delukashisation’.

‘After all, the country is poisoned by Lukashenka's authoritarianism, there has occurred an oversaturation with it, the pendulum of public sentiment is strongly tilted in this direction. And, according to the laws of physics, it should move in the opposite direction. Belarus is ready for changes, which are hindered by one man,’ believes Karbalevich.