On Oct. 31, 2025, the Telegram channel Pul Pervogo posted a video of Alexander Lukashenko’s speech during his visit to the Berezinsky Biosphere Reserve. He recalled how, in the first presidential election, residents of the Hrodna region had almost unanimously backed his candidacy.
“When I began my presidential campaign 30 years ago, I started in the Hrodna region. Everyone thought the people there were the enemies. But my main rivals back then were two Catholic figures — Shushkevich, Pazniak, and so on. So I thought, I’ll go to their stronghold. And what did I see? They’re our people! And in the first presidential election, they voted for me. An overwhelming majority — nearly 90% of them,” Lukashenko said.
That’s not exactly how it happened. Stanislau Shushkevich, then the speaker of parliament, was indeed a Catholic. And, like Zianon Pazniak, he advocated closer ties between Belarus and Europe.
Lukashenko did win a majority of votes in the Hrodna region in the 1994 election, but not 90% — it was 80%. That was in the second round, when Zianon Pazniak and Stanislau Shushkevich were already out of the race, leaving Lukashenko to face only the incumbent prime minister, pro-Russian politician Vyachaslau Kebich.
In the first round in the Hrodna region, Lukashenko received far fewer votes — 36%. Pazniak got 21.2%, and Shushkevich 10%. So Lukashenko still won — just by a smaller margin.