Lukashenko cautions against chaos during presidential election campaign

“Democracy is good, but there should be no lawlessness. There won't be. You have seen how super democratic United States and Western Europe countries treat protesters. The main task of the national security system is to preserve stability in the country, to ensure law and order. This is what the Constitution and the law require from you,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

According to the president, many issues are high on the agenda of the meeting, with the main focus on the election campaign and the forthcoming presidential election in Belarus. “It is only three weeks since the election campaign kicked off. However, today we can already see that not all the candidates for the presidential election intend to act in a civilized manner. There are violations of the law, ethical norms, insults, lashing out at the authorities. There are also those who think that all the means are good for achieving the goal. They use populist slogans and unsubstantiated promises in a bid to win the people's vote. Let people see it for themselves, analyze and draw appropriate conclusions. The people will sort things out,” said Aleksandr Lukashenko.

The president emphasized the inadmissibility of turning the collection of signatures into unauthorized rallies and mass events with the violation of all laws and norms. “We cannot allow the law to be violated. We may have to pay a very high price for it afterwards. You know how a similar situation developed in Ukraine. Therefore, the law must be observed strictly,” the president stressed.

Aleksandr Lukashenko demanded that those who take aggressive actions against representatives of law enforcement should be held liable. According to him, law enforcers are not the only ones who are threatened. “Threats are coming from all sides today: against civil servants, heads of precinct commissions, which held the parliamentary elections, their families. Threats are coming from all sides. What does this all mean? I will ask the law enforcement bodies, especially the prosecutor general, the chairman of the investigation committee, the minister of internal affairs, to pay the most serious attention to this. If there are threats, this is a crime which must be prosecuted under criminal law,” the president said.

In his words, all the ongoing events are part of a well-orchestrated scenario, and their participants are just performers who have other people with money behind them. “First, representatives of some initiative groups abuse the right of campaigning to rock the situation and destabilize the social and political situation. Then they will form teams and groups of militants who may want to organize riots. This is what they are calling on people to do. The response is evident. You understand this perfectly well,” the head of state warned.

According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, these are so-called modern election technologies, which are often dirty. “We have been through this before. We did not allow a split in the society then, and we will not allow this to happen now. Today we intend to take adequate measures to preserve peace and stability in our state. This requires a clear understanding of what individual candidates are capable of in achieving their goal. What resources they use to improve their rating. Won't it create additional threats?” said the Belarusian leader.

The president asked the participants of the meeting how they assess the current situation and what proposals they have to strengthen stability “taking into account the possibility for the situation to aggravate at any stage of the election process”. “Our people should not worry unnecessarily. We must ensure that every person can walk peacefully on their land, and that parents, as has always been the case in all our cities, can walk peacefully with their kids at any time of the day, and be proud of their country. The country should remain calm, despite any emerging situation. This is the main thing that distinguishes us from others. That is the essence of our ‘island of safety'. This is what we should preserve, whatever it takes,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.