section_path: Background
section_name: Background
paragraph_text: Background
  
  Mass protests alleging widespread vote-rigging erupted after incumbent president Alexander Lukashenko was declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election. He had won every presidential election since 1994, with all but the first being deemed by international monitors as neither free nor fair. Opposition figure Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who claimed to have won the election, went into exile. Tsikhanouskaya formed government-in-exile institutions consisting of the Coordination Council, created in August 2020, and the United Transitional Cabinet, created in August 2022.
  
  On 17 August 2020, Lukashenko stated that the next presidential election could be held earlier than 2025 if a new constitution were to be adopted. Tsikhanouskaya stated that she was ready to lead a transitional government and to hold early elections under international supervision. Lukashenko said that he would resign if a new constitution was adopted.
  
  On 23 October 2024, the Central Election Commission of Belarus (CEC) announced that the election would be held on 26 January 2025, with a potential second round to be held on 12 February.
  
  On 6 November 2024, the Viasna Human Rights Centre reported that Belarusian authorities had started a wave of arrests with over a hundred people detained in a week, many linked to online chats, at a time when Belarusian prisons were already overcrowded.