ZOiS Report 6/2020 State-society relations in Belarus have been tense for many years. The presidential elections in August 2020 and the mishandling of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic have proved to be the catalyst that brought these fragile relations to a complete breakdown. Over the years, the widening gap between a new generation of an emancipated citizenry and a regime stuck in predominantly paternalistic power structures and reluctant to engage in political and economic reforms has become increasingly evident. The deteriorating economy during the last decade and the perceived decline of the country’s social welfare system have been important factors in these developments. At the same time, the regime has continued to invest in its domestic security structures to a disproportionate extent compared with neighbouring states, allowing the so-called silovye struktury (“state power structures”) to gain influence at the highest level of state governance. (…)

Die extremistische Allukrainische Vereinigung »Swoboda« profitiert bei den vorgezogenen Regionalwahlen in Ternopil von politischen Grabenkämpfen zwischen den etablierten Parteien. Der Konflikt um die vorgezogenen Regionalwahlen zum Gebietsparlament Ternopil in der Westukraine fügt sich damit nahtlos in eine Reihe von Auseinandersetzungen zwischen Ministerpräsidentin Julia Timoschenko und Präsident Viktor Juschtschenko im Vorfeld der für Januar 2010 geplanten Präsidentschaftswahlen in der Ukraine ein.