Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus for three decades and is considered the last dictator in Europe, told reporters on Thursday, the 14th of November, that the job of president is too challenging for women and that the presidency is a man’s job, reports Politico.
“God forbid that a woman should be elected in Belarus,” he said, arguing that the job of president in Belarus is much more difficult than in the US. “It is the most difficult job, you should not burden a woman like this.”
Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, said that
Belarus could eventually come to the style of politics of the US, but for now it is different in Belarus, which “is not a feminine style”, he said, adding that in his view “a woman should be a woman”.
“We must not put our responsibility on women. I admire women, I don’t diminish their role at all. But they must be a strong shoulder for us to lean on,” he said.
Lukashenko, who is standing for another term in the country’s presidential elections on the 26th of January, was reportedly referring to his rival in the previous 2020 elections, Sviatlana Tsyhanouska, a key figure in the Belarusian democratic movement and now an opposition leader living in exile.
Tsikhanousskaya ran in the presidential elections after her husband, a leading opposition candidate, was arrested and imprisoned during the election campaign. The election sparked massive protests that almost brought down Lukashenko, but were eventually crushed in a brutal Russian-backed crackdown on the opposition.
Cihanouska called on citizens to reject the next elections, calling them “sham” and “without a real electoral process”, held in an “atmosphere of terror”.
But this does not bother Lukashenko, who also said on Thursday that one does not become president but is “born to be president”.
“A person must naturally possess qualities that will serve him well as president,” he said.
In addition to possessing such qualities, Lukashenko also consolidated his power in January by signing a law guaranteeing him immunity, protection for life and state-secured property after his resignation.