Washington Post - 10.19.2004

Washington Post

The Rape of Belarus


Editorial

FEW WESTERN observers expected Sunday's elections in Belarus to be free or fair, so few have reason to be surprised by the results announced yesterday: a sweep for official parties in the parliament and passage of a referendum that will allow strongman Alexander Lukashenko to become, in effect, president-for-life. Mr. Lukashenko, who has been in office 10 years, is widely known in the West as Europe's last dictator. During the past decade he has repeatedly staged questionable elections while steadily eliminating free media, independent civic groups and opposition leaders. 

In the latest election, these tactics escalated. Before it took place, about 40 percent of the opposition's candidates were removed from the ballot, most on flimsy technicalities. As a result, not a single opposition candidate was elected to any of the 107 parliamentary seats decided Sunday. In addition, Mr. Lukashenko added a referendum to the ballot to remove the limit on presidential terms. Officials announced that it had passed with 77 percent of the vote, meaning that the 50-year-old president will have the opportunity to prolong his rule indefinitely through similarly fraudulent elections.

Western efforts to prevent Mr. Lukashenko's consolidation of power, including tens of millions of dollars in U.S. funding for democratization projects and opposition groups, have proved largely ineffective. But one initiative, an independent poll carried out by the Gallup Organization, was important: It showed that less than 50 percent of voters actually supported Mr. Lukashenko's constitutional amendment. This ought to provide the basis for a unified stance by the Bush administration and European governments. President Bush this week is expected to sign the Belarus Democracy Act, which mandates funding for the democratic opposition and tightens sanctions against Mr. Lukashenko's government; that is a start.

Mr. Bush also ought to take notice of the one government that quickly endorsed the Belarus election as free and fair: Russia. President Vladimir Putin probably doesn't care much for Mr. Lukashenko -- who aspires to someday lead a reconstituted Soviet Union -- but he finds him useful to his own, parallel strategy of restoring Moscow's political dominion over the band of countries between Russia and the European Union, including Ukraine and Moldova as well as Belarus. Thanks to hundreds of millions of dollars in Russian energy subsidies and his suppression of democracy, Mr. Lukashenko is utterly dependent on Mr. Putin. The Russian president is pouring money into Ukraine and is openly supporting a strongman candidate in its presidential election, scheduled for Oct. 31. By year's end, Mr. Putin could preside over a de facto empire, as some 60 million Europeans who became citizens of independent nations in 1991 find that once again their politics are controlled by the Kremlin. 

Mr. Bush may not be able to prevent this, but the Ukrainian election is being fought on more equal terms and could be swayed by the West's response to Belarus. Mr. Bush could, at least, take a stand against Mr. Putin's imperialism. The majority of Belarusans voted against the consolidation of a dictatorship in their country Sunday. Now they see Moscow ratifying their oppression. If they hear the American president say, in response, that he supports their freedom -- from dictatorship and from foreign domination -- they will have reason to hope; what's more, the other nations of Eurasia will see that there is a clear difference between the foreign policy of Mr. Bush and that of Mr. Putin.