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Belarus’ opposition plans to form coordinating council for transfer of power on August 17

According to lawyer of the joint headquarters of ex-presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya Maxim Znak, the council does not have political goals

MINSK, August 15. /TASS/. The opposition in Belarus is starting to form a coordinating council for the transfer of power in the country, lawyer of the joint headquarters of ex-presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya Maxim Znak told TASS.

"We have started accepting applications with the goal of including the most respected people in Belarus in the council," he said, adding "Over 100 such applications have already been received. The proposals will be processed over the weekend, and on Monday we plan to make a collective decision".

According to him, the council does not have political goals. "We are only discussing creating safe conditions for the transfer of power, we want to outline the process of what the Belarusian society wants. It has shown it," Znak said.

Belarusian presidential elections were held on August 9. According to the final results provided by the Belarusian Central Election Commission on August 14, incumbent President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko received 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.

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