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Lukashenka claims he has not yet thought about becoming president for life

 

Alyaksandr Lukashenka said in an interview given to the French newspaper Le Figaro on November 25 that he had not yet thought about becoming president for life, BelaPAN said.

“I’ve never thought about this; I don’t know how long I will live,” the 56-year-old Belarusian leader said. “But if the country’s law allows, if I I’m healthy and the people say yes, then everything will be possible. The main thing is my people’s wish.”

The interview was published on the Le Figaro website on Monday evening.

Mr. Lukashenka was elected president of Belarus in a relatively free and fair election in the summer of 1994, when voters warmed to him as a "man of the people" running against an aloof figure from the country's Soviet-era elite. In the first round of the elections, he reportedly won 44.8 percent of the vote, compared with 17.3 percent for second-place Prime Minister Vyachaslaw Kebich. In the runoff round, he received 80.1 percent against Mr. Kebich's 19.9 percent.

As a result of a constitutional referendum in November 1996, he extended his presidential term by two years to 2001.

In September 2001, he was reelected president for a new five-year term. The central election commission announced that he won 75.6 percent of the vote, compared with 15.4 percent for an opposition coalition's candidate, trade union leader Uladzimir Hancharyk, and 2.5 percent for Liberal Democratic Party leader Syarhey Haydukevich.

In 2004, he initiated a national referendum on the removal of the two-term constitutional limit on the presidency. According to the central election commission, Mr. Lukashenka won a sweeping victory, with 79.4 percent of all registered voters saying "yes" to allowing him to stand for reelection for a third term.

In March 2006, Mr. Lukashenka was declared the winner with 83 percent of the vote in a presidential election condemned by his opponents as a farce.

Opposition candidates Alyaksandr Milinkevich and Alyaksandr Kazulin reportedly gained 6.1 and 2.2 percent, respectively, and Mr. Haydukevich was said to have received 3.5 percent. An independent survey found that Mr. Lukashenka won 63.6 percent of the vote and Mr. Milinkevich received 20.6 percent.