Sviatlana Hieorhiyeuna Tsikhanouskaya, 42, is a Belarusian political activist.
After her husband’s arrest on 29 May, Tsikhanouskaya announced her intention to run in his place. She registered as an Independent candidate on 14 July 2020. After registering, she was endorsed by the campaigns of Valery Tsepkalo and Viktar Babaryka, two prominent opposition politicians who were barred from registering, with one being arrested and the other fleeing the country. During the presidential campaign a photo of Tsikhanouskaya with Maria Kolesnikova (Babaryka’s campaign chief), and Veronika Tsepkalo (Valery Tsepkalo’s wife), became a symbol of her campaign.
Before the presidential campaign, Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko insisted that the country was not ready for a female president. Her campaign began as Amnesty International condemned Belarus’s discriminatory treatment of women opposition activists, including threats of sexual violence and threats by authorities to take children away from opposition figures and send them to state-run orphanages. In response to the threats, Tsikhanouskaya sent her children abroad to live with their grandmother. During the presidential campaign, Tsikhanouskaya was repeatedly threatened, recounting phone calls from unknown numbers, addressing to her: “We will put you behind bars and place your children in an orphanage.” Tsikhanouskaya said she then decided to persevere in her campaign: “There must be a symbol of freedom.”
Tsikhanouskaya said that she ran for president out of love, to free her husband from prison. She vowed to free all political prisoners in Belarus, to introduce democratic reforms to the country, and to move away from the union treaty with Russia. She also pledged to set a referendum on returning to the original draft of the 1994 Belarusian constitution, reinstating a limit of two terms for the president. She said that her main goal is to establish free and fair elections. She said she viewed the election as illegitimate due to the government’s refusal to register Lukashenko’s main political opponents as candidates. She pledged to deliver a plan for transparent and accountable elections within six months of taking office.
Though running as an independent candidate, Tsikhanouskaya attracted support from across the spectrum of Belarus’s political opposition. Vital Rymasheuski, co-leader of Belarusian Christian Democracy, announced his party’s support, as did the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Assembly), United Civic Party of Belarus and Belarusian Women’s Party “Nadzieja”. She also received support from 2010 presidential candidate Mikola Statkevich. Ivonka Survilla, president of the Rada of the Belarusian People’s Republic expressed her support for Tsikhanouskaya.
Rallies in support of Tsikhanouskaya and in opposition to Lukashenko were the largest in the history of post-Soviet Belarus, attracting crowds of 20,000 in Brest and 60,000 in Minsk.
The night before the election, police detained senior staffers from Tsikhanouskaya’s campaign and she chose to go into hiding in Minsk, before re-emerging on election day at a polling station.
The official results published by the Central Election Commission of Belarus gave Tsikhanouskaya 588,622 votes, or 10.12% of the vote, to Lukashenko’s 80.10%. However, allegations of widespread fraud were immediately made public, including a formal complaint to the Central Election Commission (CEC) by Tsikhanouskaya.
After Belarusian state television released an exit poll showed Lukashenko winning by an overwhelming margin, Tsikhanouskaya said that she didn’t trust that poll, saying, “I believe my eyes, and I see that the majority is with us.” She filed a formal complaint with the Central Election Commission on election night, but was detained for seven hours in retaliation. After her release from detention, Tsikhanouskaya chose to flee to Lithuania in fear of repercussions, which could have possibly affected her children.
On 11 August 2020 Lithuanian foreign minister Linas Linkevicius announced that Tsikhanouskaya was “safe” in Lithuania while also acknowledging that she had “few options”. Also on 11 August, the State Security Committee of Belarus announced that an attempt was being made on Tsikhanouskaya’s life, saying that the protesters needed a “sacred sacrifice”. Later that night, state television released a video message from Tsikhanouskaya in which she seemingly conceded defeat and urged the end of protests. However, the stark change in demeanor and message led allies to claim that the video had been coerced, with some going as far as to liken it to a hostage video.
The Polish government allotted a residence for Tsikhanouskaya and other members of the Belarusian opposition in the Praga-Poludnie district of Warsaw.
On 14 August 2020 Tsikhanouskaya released a video in which she claimed to have defeated Lukashenko in the first round by a decisive margin, with as little as 60% of the vote and as much as 70%. She appealed to the international community to recognize her as the winner. Tsikhanouskaya also announced the establishment of a Coordination Council to handle the transfer of power from Lukashenko. Applications for membership in the council were open only to Belarusian authority figures, such as respected professionals, authors or sportspeople.
On 17 August 2020 Tsikhanouskaya released a video where she stated that she was ready to head a transitional government and organize a new, free and fair presidential election.
On 8 September 2020 Tsikhanouskaya addressed the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. She called for sanctions against Lukashenko, and “stated that Lukashenko doesn’t have any legitimacy after stealing the vote, warning other countries against making any deals with the Belarussian government”, and said that “He does not represent Belarus any more.”
On 9 September 2020 Tsikhanouskaya said that the Belarusian opposition wants to have good relations with all nations, including Russia: “We cannot turn away from Russia because it will always be our neighbor, and we need to have good relations with them.”
On 17 September 2020, the European Parliament recognized the coordination council as the “interim representation of the people demanding democratic change” in Belarus.
On 26 February 2022, in response to Belarus’ participation in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Tsikhanouskaya posted a tweet stating “…I declared myself as the national leader of Belarus to protect the sovereignty & independence of our country, represent it in security negotiations & crisis management in the region”, and mentioned that she “will create a transitional cabinet”, after claiming that “Belarus has lost its independence” and alleged President Lukashenko “committed high treason” in the video in the tweet.
On 2 March 2022 Tsihanouskaya announced an anti-war mobilization and posted a manifesto of the anti-war movement calling Belarusians to oppose Russian invasion in Ukraine and imploring Belarusian soldiers to refuse to participate in the war.
On 11 March 2022 Tsikhanouskaya endorsed the creation of the Belarusian volunteer battalion fighting in Ukraine Kastus Kalinouski Battalion, she noted that “more and more people from Belarus join to help Ukrainians defend their country”.
On 9 August 2022 at a conference held in Vilnius, Tsikhanouskaya announced the creation of the United Transitional Cabinet. It initially consisted of Pavel Latushko (responsible for the transition of power), Aliaksandr Azarau (responsible for the restoration of law and order), Valery Kavaleuski (foreign affairs), and Valery Sakhashchyk (defense and national security).
In December, 2022, Tsikhanouskaya called on Belarusians to inform Ukraine of Russian troop and equipment movements inside Belarus.
In January 2023, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus designated the structures of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya as an extremist formation. Members of extremist formations face imprisonment under Belarusian law.
Tsikhanouskaya is wanted by the Belarusian authority for conspiracy to seize state power, the creation of an extremist formation, and public calls for the seizure of power, and in March 2023 was sentenced in-absentia to a 15-year jail term.
Tsikhanouskaya was on the list of the BBC’s 100 Women announced on 23 November 2020. and was included in the 2020 edition of The Bloomberg 50.
Tsikhanouskaya and other Belarus leaders of the country’s democratic opposition were awarded the European Parliament’s 2020 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in a ceremony on December 16 in Brussels. In 2021, she was nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize by President of Lithuania Gitanas Nauseda and multiple Norwegian members of parliament. She and other Belarus leaders of the country’s democratic opposition won the 2022 Charlemagne Prize.