Alexander Lukashenko mentioned the upcoming presidential elections in Belarus on January 16, 2025. The video of his speech to the employees of Minsk City Technopark was published by BelTA.
"If you find the opportunity and the time, come and vote. Make your choice and vote. There are five candidates with different positions, different viewpoints: some of them want to bring NATO here," Lukashenko said. From his words, it's unclear whether he means the deployment of NATO troops in Belarus or the country's accession to the Alliance.
The WTF team studied the platforms of four candidates. Oleg Gaidukevich - the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, explicitly states that his party supports Belarus's participation in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the informal association of dynamic developing economies BRICS, and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) — a counterpart to NATO in the post-Soviet space.
Anna Konopatskaya advocates for the normalization of relations and the renewal of labor ties with all neighbors and partners. NATO is not mentioned in her program. However, her platform includes provisions for a two-term presidency limit and transitioning Belarus to a parliamentary form of government. During the 2020 elections, she advocated for Belarus to withdraw from the CSTO and the Union State of Belarus and Russia, citing that membership in those organizations did not align with national interests. These issues are not mentioned in her new election campaign.
Communist candidate Sergey Syrankov asserts his intention to "deepen cooperation with allies in the CSTO and SCO."
Alexander Hizhnyak from the Republican Party of Labor and Justice barely discusses politics, only briefly mentioning the development of cooperation with international partners and the need to lift sanctions.
None of the presidential candidates have stated their intention to bring Belarus into NATO, have NATO troops in our country, or even to withdraw from the CSTO.
