MINSK, August 15. /TASS/. The Belarusian opposition considers presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya the elected leader of the country for the transition period, Valery Tsepkalo, an opposition politician that was not registered by the Belarusian Central Election Commission as a presidential candidate, stated on Saturday.
"There is no discussion of any six months of [Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s] leadership. The president for the transition period is Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the lawfully elected president of the Republic of Belarus," he wrote on his Telegram channel.
After the official election results were announced in Belarus on Friday, Tikhanovskaya’s campaign office stated that it does not recognize Lukashenko’s victory. Tikhanovskaya said that she is establishing a coordination council to ensure the transition of power.
Her team said earlier that they support the organization of a new election within six months, with observers from foreign organization invited to monitor the election.
Belarus held a presidential election on August 9. According to the final results provided by the Belarusian Central Election Commission on August 14, incumbent President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko got 80.1% of the vote. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who was considered his main opponent, came in second with 10.12%.
After exit poll results were announced in the evening of August 9, protests erupted in downtown Minsk and other regions of the country, leading to clashes between protesters and the law enforcement. The protests continued over the following days. As a result, several thousand people were detained, dozens of police officers and protesters were injured.