In Belarus, Lukashenka replaces veteran chief of election commission ahead of referendum

Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka has replaced the long-serving chief of the Central Election Commission (TsVK) ahead of an expected referendum on constitutional amendments he initiated following unprecedented rallies across the country last year questioning the official results of a presidential election that declared him the winner. Lidzia Yarmoshyna, 68, who ran the TsVK for 25 years and who has been accused by the Belarusian opposition of being behind many cases of election fraud, was replaced on December 13 by Ihar Karpenka, the leader of the pro-Lukashenka Communist Party of Belarus. [...] Lukashenka promised to change the constitution a year ago amid mass protests following the August 2020 election that opposition leaders and the West say was rigged. He has pledged to hold the vote in February. In September he said the changes "are aimed at making the constitution more harmonized and balanced by redistributing the powers of the president, the parliament, and the government and establishing a constitutional status for the All-Belarus People's Assembly." But he gave no details of the draft constitution or the role that the All-Belarus People's Assembly would assume, and opponents have expressed doubt about the amendments, calling them a sham exercise to help him to cling to power after the opposition rejected his election victory.
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