Poll: 90 percent of opinion leaders believe Lukashenko is dictator :: Charter'97 :: News

Ninety percent of opinion leaders and experts believe that Belarusian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko is a dictator, suggests a survey by the Minsk-based Independent Institute of Social, Economic and Political Studies (IISEPS).

The IISEPS says that it interviewed more than 60 policymakers, media leaders, researchers and businesspeople equally representing the state and non-state sectors in March and early April before it was closed by the Supreme Court over alleged irregularities.

Ninety-eight percent of the interviewed said that they knew that the European Union had imposed travel bans on several Belarusian high-ranking officials and why it had done so.
The EU`s visa blacklist includes Lidiya Yermoshina, head of the central election commission, Yury Podobed, chief of the Minsk riot police (OMON), and four officials suspected of involvement in the 1999-2000 disappearances of four opponents of Aleksandr Lukashenko.
Thirty-one percent of the respondents said that they supported the EU`s draft action plan for promoting democracy in Belarus and increasing pressure on the country’s authorities.
Forty-six percent said that they did not believe that the plan would be effective, while 21.5 percent said that the EU move would have an adverse effect on developments in the country.