Анна Канопацкая. Фото из личного архива.
Hanna Kanapatskaya, used by Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s regime to create the appearance of opposition in Belarus, unexpectedly accused former Central Election Commission (CEC) Chair Lidziya Yarmoshyna of falsifying the 2020 presidential election. She made the claim in a post on Facebook.
“I really want to understand and sort out — and it must be clarified today in the interests of a future democratic Belarus — by what magical means the then head of the CEC of the Republic of Belarus became enamored with the Mikasevichy con artist (referring to Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya — reform.news note) and, in gross violation of Belarusian law, first registered her initiative group, then — with the same serious violations — registered her as a presidential candidate. Afterwards, she did not allow anyone to utter a word against the illegal ‘tour across the towns and villages of Belarus’ carried out by that trio of self-proclaimed extremist women during the campaign and voting stages,” she wrote.
Kanapatskaya said she intends to file a complaint with the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Supreme Court demanding the annulment of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s registration.
“In the near future, I will initiate a process to delegitimize Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya as an illegally registered candidate in the 2020 presidential election in Belarus, with a subsequent demand for the results to be amended in the prescribed manner and for those responsible to be held legally accountable. I will begin with a traditional appeal to the Prosecutor General’s Office,” the pseudo-opposition figure wrote.
It is worth noting that in 2020, Kanapatskaya herself ran for the presidency of Belarus. She claimed to have collected more than 100,000 signatures in her support. According to her, she submitted 110,000 signatures to the CEC, but was unexpectedly credited with 146,588 valid ones. This raised justified doubts not only about the actions of Yarmoshina’s CEC but also about Kanapatskaya’s ability to organize such a collection. Ultimately, she was allowed to participate in the election, where the CEC officially gave her 1.68%, or about 98,000 votes.