Ukraine-Russia: Belarusians living in Scotland to protest at London embassy after being banned from referendum vote

Belarusians living in Scotland have travelled to London to take part in a protest outside their country's embassy during a key referendum in which they are banned from voting.

The country, which is a key ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin and has hosted troops along its border used to invade Ukraine, is to vote on constitutional change that will upgrade the unelected All-Belarusian People’s Assembly as the country’s highest representative body.

The referendum is also on creating a constitutional ban against punishing president Alexander Lukashenko for his actions carried out while in office.

However, the Belarusian government – known as Europe's last dictatorship – has banned the Belarusian diaspora from voting in the referendum, citing a lack of embassy staff and the Covid-19 pandemic. It is believed around half a million Belarusians live abroad and could be eligible to vote.

Irina McLean says the ban on voting in the referendum has prevented the Belarusian diaspora from exercising their right to democracy.

A group of Belarusians living in Scotland have travelled to London to demonstrate outside their embassy today, warning they expect the referendum to be a whitewash. They will protest with other Belarusians from around the UK – and at the same time as other protests are held at Belarusian embassies around the world – holding up red crosses to symbolise the fact they have been silenced.

Irina MacLean, spokeswoman for the People’s Consulate of Belarus in Scotland, said: “We are trying to express our views because we are still Belarus citizens, but we are not allowed to express our views on this issue.

"The outcome of the referendum is inevitable, but it’s cementing power, North Korea style, even more. There is no room for manoeuvre and it will allow him [Lukashenko] to hand us over to Russia fully, because that's what he will choose to do.”

The presidential elections in Belarus, which took place 18 months ago, sparked months of protests amid claims of electoral fraud.

Mr Lukashenko, who has been in power since the mid 1990s, claimed victory in the elections, stating he had 80 per cent of the vote. However, opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who stepped in after the original candidate, her husband Sergei, was arrested, fled to Lithuania after lodging a formal complaint with the electoral commission in Belarus and considers herself to be the leader of democratic Belarus.

The changes give emergency powers to the All-Belarusian People’s Assembly, a pseudo-parliamentary body, to provide a “safety net” in case “the wrong people come to power”. They echo similar amendments made in Russia in 2020.

Three weeks ago Anatoly Glaz, press secretary of Belarus’s Foreign Ministry, said no polling stations for the constitutional referendum would be opened abroad.

In response, Ms Tikhanovskaya's special representative for elections, Alexander Shlyk, warned the move limited the opportunities for Belarusian citizens to exercise their rights.

He said: “According to various estimates, up to half a million citizens are abroad, most of whom have the right to vote. It will be necessary to closely monitor what will happen to them in the voter lists.

“And I also want to remind you that in 2020, the results of exit polls abroad were radically different from the official results at such polling stations. There are no such discrepancies on the territory of the Republic of Belarus, because there are no exit polls.”

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