Belarus leader faces toughest challenge yet in Sunday vote

Minsk: After 26 consecutive years in office, the autocratic leader of Belarus is confronting something unfamiliar as he tries to win a sixth term: circumstances beyond his control.

Discontent over a worsening economy and his government's dismissive response to the Coronavirus pandemic has helped fuel the country's largest opposition rallies since the collapse of the Soviet Union, when Alexander Lukashenko became independent Belarus's first and only elected president, so far.

Rumblings among the ruling elite and a bitter rift with Russia, Belarus's main sponsor and ally, compound the reelection challenge facing the 65-year-old former state farm director on Sunday.

Lukashenko, who once acquired the nickname Europe's last dictator in the West for his relentless crackdowns on dissent, has made it clear he won't hesitate to again use the government's authority and, if necessary, force to quash any attempt

by his opponents to protest the results of the presidential election.

Election officials already barred the president's two main prospective rivals from what is now a five-person race. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, a 37-year-old former teacher and the wife of a jailed opposition blogger, has managed to draw strong support, with tens of

thousands flocking to her campaign rallies.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Tsikhanouskaya described herself as a symbol of change . It was brewing inside for more than 20 years," Tsikhanouskaya said.

We were afraid all that time and no one dared to say a word. Now people vote for a symbol of change.

Tsikhanouskaya has crisscrossed the country, tapping public frustration with Lukashenko's swaggering response to the pandemic and the country's stagnating Soviet-style

economy.