Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya


Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is a candidate in the 2020 Belarusian presidential election.

Biography

Prior to becoming a presidential candidate, Tsikhanouskaya was a teacher and interpreter. She is married to arrested YouTuber, blogger, and activist Siarhei Tsikhanouski.

2020 presidential campaign

After the arrest of her husband on 29 May, Tsikhanouskaya announced her intention to run in his place. She was registered as a candidate on 14 July 2020 as an Independent. After her registration as a candidate, she was endorsed by the campaigns of Valery Tsepkalo and Viktar Babaryka, two prominent opposition politicians who were barred from registering. A photo of Tsikhanouskaya with Maria Kolesnikova, Babaryka's campaign chief, and Veronika Tsepkalo, the wife of Valery Tsepkalo, has become a symbol of her campaign.
In June, she released a video saying that she had been threatened with arrest and with her children being taken away if she continued to campaign. She has since sent her children abroad to live with their grandmother for their safety.

Female solidarity

Before the presidential campaign, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko insisted the country is not ready for a woman president. Her campaign comes as Amnesty International condemned the country's discriminatory treatment of women opposition activists citing threats of sexual violence, and taking their children into care.

Platform

Tsikhanouskaya has said that she is running for president because of love, to free her husband from prison. She has also stated that her main goal is to establish free and fair elections. She views the current election as illegitimate due to the government's refusal to register Lukashenko's main political opponents. She has pledged to deliver a plan for transparent and accountable elections within six months of taking office.

Supporters

Although she is running as an Independent, Tsikhanouskaya has attracted support from across the spectrum of Belarus' political opposition. Vital Rymašeŭski, co-leader of Belarusian Christian Democracy, announced his party's support, as did the Belarusian Social Democratic Party, United Civic Party of Belarus and Belarusian Women's Party "Nadzieja". She has also received support from former opposition presidential candidate in the presidential election of 2010, Mikola Statkevich.