The parliamentary and local council elections held in Belarus last week were its first since the 2020 crisis, when huge protests against electoral fraud rocked the country following a presidential vote, only to be brutally crushed. Despite this, the recent campaign proved to be utterly unnoteworthy and dull, even by the standards of Alexander Lukashenko’s thirty-year rule. The procedure was devoid of any intrigue at all stages. These elections were never going to have any political import, since both local authorities and the Belarusian parliament are powerless institutions. The imminent establishment in April of a new super-body—the All-Belarusian People’s Assembly—diminishes the role of parliament even further.
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- United States of America
