I am back to Vilnius after a couple of weeks of toddling with the Belarusian electoral hassle. There is almost no fuss on the campaign trail. It feels as if nothing big was going on in the country. Just another campaign, business as usual. Both the govt and the opposition elite cared more about the exterior, much less about the substance.
On one hand, this election is more democratic than the previous ones in Luka eon, or, at least, the government is doing a more-or-less decent job picturing the election as democratic. But in essence, this election is just as flawed and unfair as any in the last few years.
On the other hand, the opposition has come up with no common strategy. No surprise here, of course. Some urged to boycott the vote, others kept on campaigning. Most seem to agree that there should be an after-vote protest in Minsk. The Belarusian public must decry the fraudulent election. But watching the campaign closely from the Belarusian heartland, I was flabbergasted to learn how little interest the common folks had in the race.
No, guys, it’s not time X yet. Most Belarusians are not ready for public outcry. I guess we’ll need to wait out a couple of years before my neighbor next door will finally say, hell, I am fed up with this Luka crap. Sorry, dudes, nothing will rock the Belarusian general apathy this September.
