MOSCOW, August 27. /TASS/. Protest rallies in Belarus are not running out of steam. This opinion was voiced by the former Belarusian presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya in an interview with the Ekho Moskvy (Echo of Moscow) radio station on Thursday.

"The protests are not running out of steam, they continue in due course. Of course, during the week the degree of intensity may be lower but over the weekend everything will return to its course," she thinks.

The presidential election in Belarus was held on August 9. According to the final results of the Central Election Committee, incumbent president of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko got 80.1% of the vote. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya who was considered his main opponent, was second with 10.12%, she refused to recognize the election results. Soon after she left for the neighboring Lithuania where she remains to this day. Immediately after exit poll results were announced, mass protest rallies erupted in the country which in the early days were accompanied by clashes between protesters and law enforcement forces. The Coordination Council of the opposition created in the republic is urging to continue the protests. The authorities state the necessity to stop the unauthorized rallies.