Expert: Authorities monitor Lukashenka's rating decline
31 March 2016, 18:12
Aliaksandr Lukashenka's rating has dropped again. This is evidenced by the results of the March poll held by the Independent Institute of Socio-Economic and Political Studies (IISEPS) operating in Vilnius.
According to the fresh IISEPS figures, if presidential elections were held today, Lukashenka would get votes of only 27.3% of Belarusians. In September 2015, a month before the last presidential election, his support was as much as 45.7%, and in December, two months after the vote - 33.3%. According to the CEC, on 11 October, Aliaksandr Lukashenka won the election with 83.49% of the vote.
According to the IISEPS, the current rating of Lukashenka is not the lowest in history. The permanent head of state had the worst indicators in March 2002 - 26.4%, and in September 2011 - even 20.5%.
Political analyst Aliaksei Pikulik believes that the government is closely monitoring the actual rating of the President. This is necessary in order to monitor the level of its popularity:
According to the IISEPS, not only the electoral rating of the head of state but also the confidence rating of Lukashenka have decreased. He si now trusted by 41.7% of respondents, not trusted by 47.4%. In September 2015, these figures were 47% and 37.1%, respectively.
Quite a high percentage of Belarusians are now in favor of the change - up 67.3%. Save the current state of want to just 24.7%. On the other hand, to the authorities consider themselves to be 18% in opposition. In June, the crisis of 2011, this figure was 25.8%.
According to the IISEPS, among the opposition leaders, the highest rating is enjoyed by Tatsiana Karatkevich. She would get 6.9% of the vote now against 15.7% in October 2015. The second most popular was Mikalai Statkevich, whose rating is 2.9%. The rest of the opposition politicians have a rating of less than 1%. Aliaksei Pikulik says it is absolutely normal:
Still, despite a sharp fall, Aliaksandr Lukashenka remains the most popular politician in the country.