{"id":113826,"date":"2024-11-14T18:19:55","date_gmt":"2024-11-14T15:19:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/113826\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"rights-defenders-question-lukasenkas-claim-of-700000-signatures-collected-in-his-favor","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/113826\/","title":{"rendered":"Rights defenders question \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s claim of 700,000 signatures collected in his favor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>November 14, <em>Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> An exiled election monitoring group has questioned Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s claim that his campaign activists have garnered 700,000 signatures for his presidential nomination in just one week as hardly credible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Belarusian leader made the statement today, while visiting a Minsk stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections said that the signature count and validation process is vulnerable to tampering. \u201cWhatever numbers are drawn there, signatures have been collected using the practice tried and tested for years \u2013 through the use of the administrative muscle and intimidation methods to force voters [to sign].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The group, established by the Viasna Human Rights Center and Belarusian Helsinki Committee, stressed that Belarus\u2019 Electoral Code provides for the disqualification of contenders for compulsion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Belarus will hold its seventh presidential election from January 21 to 26, with the whole election cycle limited to just three months. The previous 2020 presidential race was marred by police brutality against peaceful protesters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The remaining five presidential bidders are Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka, his supporters Aleh Hajdukievi\u010d, Alaksandar Chi\u017eniak, Siarhiej Syranko\u016d as well as former MP Hanna Kanapackaja.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Candidates must garner at least 100,000 voter signatures before December 6 to qualify for the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"insert-block\">\n\n    <div class=\"insert-block__img\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"354\" height=\"236\" src=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/vybory-podpisi-lukashenko-mlyn.by-7-11-354x236.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/vybory-podpisi-lukashenko-mlyn.by-7-11-354x236.jpg 354w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/vybory-podpisi-lukashenko-mlyn.by-7-11-734x490.jpg 734w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/vybory-podpisi-lukashenko-mlyn.by-7-11-178x118.jpg 178w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/vybory-podpisi-lukashenko-mlyn.by-7-11-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/vybory-podpisi-lukashenko-mlyn.by-7-11.jpg 1128w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 354px) 100vw, 354px\" \/>                        <label class=\"insert-block__tag--mobile\"> Elections<\/label>\n\n                            <label class=\"insert-block__tag--mobile\"> Politics<\/label>\n\n                <\/div>\n    <div class=\"insert-block__text\">\n                    <label class=\"insert-block__tag\">Elections, Politics<\/label>\n                <h3 class=\"insert-block__title\">Rights defenders: reprisals scare off even \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s proxies at election<\/h3>\n        <div class=\"insert-block__descr\">November 13, Pozirk. The ongoing politically-motivated crackdown is hampering Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s attempts to present the upcoming January presidential election as competitive, said lawyers from the Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections campaign. The comment follows yesterday\u2019s withdrawal of retired General &#8230;<\/div>\n        <a class=\"insert-block__btn-block\" href=\"\/en\/news\/113556\">\n            <button class=\"btn\">\n                <div class='btn__text'>Read<\/div>\n            <\/button>\n        <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>November 14, Pozirk. An exiled election monitoring group has questioned Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s claim that his campaign activists have garnered 700,000 signatures for his presidential nomination in just one week as hardly credible. The Belarusian leader made the statement today, while visiting a Minsk stadium. Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections said that the signature count [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":113813,"template":"","rubric":[],"class_list":["post-113826","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Rights defenders question \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s claim of 700,000 signatures collected in his favor | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"November 14, Pozirk. An exiled election monitoring group has questioned Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s claim that his campaign activists have garnered 700,000\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/113826\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rights defenders question \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s claim of 700,000 signatures collected in his favor | Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"November 14, Pozirk. An exiled election monitoring group has questioned Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s claim that his campaign activists have garnered 700,000\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/113826\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/piket_lukashenka_minskaia_pravda.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"732\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"488\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Pozirk_online\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/113826\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/113826\/\"},\"headline\":\"Rights defenders question \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s claim of 700,000 signatures collected in his favor\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-14T15:19:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/113826\/\"},\"wordCount\":204,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/113826\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/piket_lukashenka_minskaia_pravda.jpeg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/113826\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/113826\/\",\"name\":\"Rights defenders question \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s claim of 700,000 signatures collected in his favor | Pozirk\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/113826\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/113826\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/piket_lukashenka_minskaia_pravda.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-14T15:19:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00\",\"description\":\"November 14, Pozirk. 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