Alexander Lukashenko to run for another Belarusian presidential term

Minsk: Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko will run for another presidential term, as he himself said at a press conference.

“Everything will be fine and in accordance with the law. Given my current situation, the situation in the country and the people’s attitude towards me, I cannot but stand as a candidate in the presidential election,” he said.

According to Lukashenko, he will run the next presidential election so that “no one can later accuse me of being a quitter who ran away in an hour of need,” the Belarusian president noted.

He added that he did not plan to conduct an election campaign. “My goal is to create equal conditions for all contenders,” he noted. Lukashenko also said that he did not intend to introduce a hereditary rule in the country. When commenting on media reports claiming that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin were planning to unite the two countries and divide the highest positions between themselves, Lukashenko said that “this is not my first term as president and I have had enough of it, but I will not ruin the country for my own ambitions or somebody else’s.”

Belarusian Central Election Commission chief Lidia Yermoshina said earlier that the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections would not be held simultaneously and it would be reasonable to launch one of the election campaigns on December 1, 2019. The dates for the elections are expected to be announced in April, when the president will deliver an address to the parliament.