Still a dictator

Europe’s last dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, held another sham election. Regrettably, the West appears set on overlooking the sins of the Belarusian strongman in favor of thawing ties. The European Union on Oct. 12 lifted some sanctions on Belarus, including a six-month suspension of the travel bans imposed on Lukashenko and 40 other Belarusian officials.

The actions are a mistake and will not bring Belarus closer to democracy. Lukashenko is an unrepentant dictator who is beyond redemption. He routinely shows how much he deserves the free world’s scorn. He is also contemptuous of the 10 million people he rules, showing his disdain by denying a basic human right: the right to change their government.

Pressure on the iron-fisted ruler should never let up for other reasons. He has always failed to account for – or to allow an independent investigation of – the disappearances (and probable murders) of high-ranking dissidents, including opposition politician Viktar Hanchar, former Interior Minister Yury Zakharanka, journalist Dzmitry Zavadski and businessman Anatol Krasowski.

In the Sept. 28 vote, Lukashenko used the standard tricks to ensure that no opposition candidates got elected to the 110-seat, rubber-stamp parliament.

The state-run media favored his slate of candidates and curtailed debate. Five days of early voting provided fertile ground for vote-count fraud. The election commissions were stacked in Lukashenko's favor.

Even the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, legendary for bureaucratic understatement in describing rigged elections, called the contest undemocratic.

Lukashenko, like all dictators corrupted by absolute power, became even more belligerent after the election. “We have never bargained, and we will not bargain, our friendship with the Russians,” Lukashenko said defiantly. He sees the global financial crisis as vindication of his economic policies,  overlooking the fact that his Soviet-like economy has been propped up for years by cheap oil and gas from his friends in Russia.