Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a stay-at-home mother, never thought she would run for president or the leader of the Belarusian protest movement.
But in a Hollywood-worthy story in a matter of weeks, the 37-year-old man has from a political unknown to a tough rival high for Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko, who won a crushing victory in Sunday’s presidential election.
Tikhanovskaya said the result of the vote had been manipulated and asked Lukashenko to leave peacefully and avoid force after police cracked down on the protesters.
“I myself am the winner of this election,” he said Monday.
Tikhanovskaya said she had defied the election to get her imed blogger husband and get the freedom of the former Soviet country of 9.5 million inhabitants.
“I love Belarusians and give them the opportunity to choose,” he said before the vote.
Tikhanovskaya, a trained English instructor, made the decision to run for president until May.
Her husband Sergei Tikhanovsky, a popular 41-year-old YouTube blogger, had been arrested and possibly submitted his own presidential candidacy in time.
The electoral commission allowed Tikhanovskaya, two more powerful opposition candidates, to run.
Despite his lack of political experience, he has temporarily become the country’s leading opposition figure, with tens of thousands of people coming to the streets for his candidacy.
In her speeches, Tikhanovskaya herself was an “ordinary woman, mother and wife” and caught the attention of the crowd with calls for change.
“I have the embodiment of people’s hopes of their aspiration for change,” he told the AFP in an interview before Election Day.
She said she was standing despite receiving threats.
Her husband has been accused of plotting mass unrest and collaborating with Russian mercenaries, claims Tikhanovskaya has called “very scary.”
Their five-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son have been taken abroad for their own safety.
She said the separation from her children — including her son who is hearing impaired — was difficult.
Tikhanovskaya, if elected, would release her husband and other detained opposition figures and make new elections.
– ‘Joan of Arc’ –
Her bid has prompted scepticism from some, while others have compared her to historical heroines.
The Village, a news site based in Minsk, called it an “accidental Joan of Arc”, the 15th-century French peasant who contributed to an army victory opposed to the English before they burned her at the stake.
“You’re the wife of a decembryman!” a supporter shouted at a rally, referring to the aristocrats of the century who followed their husbands into exile in Siberia.
Doubting the first television appearances, Tikhanovskaya has earned praise for her recent speeches.
He assigned live spaces on state television, indexed the alleged lies of Lukashenko’s regime, repeating: “They will show you this on television.”
“Unexpectedly, his first televised speech was blunt, with no false notes or weaknesses,” wrote opposition Nasha Niva.
Tikhanovskaya’s still direct speeches provoked long applause at crowded rallies.
“Are you tired of putting up with everything? Are you tired of shutting up?” he asked his followers.
“Yes, ” roared the crowd.
He accused Lukashenko of appearing braised to others during the coronavirus outbreak, which the strongman described as deceitful.
Tikhanovskaya says she doesn’t have the “massive charisma” of her husband, who traveled through Belarus interviewing other people for blunt videos.
– Charlie’s Angels –
In terms of image, she achieved a transformation with that of two most experienced women.
This is Veronika Tsepkalo, whose ex-staff diplomat Valery Tsepkalo was not allowed to run, and Maria Kolesnikova, crusade manager of former cabinetr Viktor Babaryko, who has also been excluded from the polls and is in prison.
They both accompanied her to the rallies, and a Belarusian media called them “Charlie’s Angels.”
They wore T-shirts with a drawing with their signature gestures: Tikhanovskaya’s fist, Kolesnikova’s heart-shaped hands and Tsepkalo’s victory sign.
Tikhanovskaya grew up in Mikashevichi, a small town south of Minsk.
With top grades she studied to become a teacher of English and German in the historic city of Mozyr. It was there she met her future husband, who owned a nightclub.
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