What should Belarusians do on election day?

Do the democratic forces lose out? I'm not sure. I think that for people who, for whatever reason, are inclined to either stand as candidates or go to the polls, the voice of Tsikhanouskaya and her colleagues in exile means little anyway.

Shraibman believes that the opposition's priority is external challenges rather than internal ones, because there is much to lose externally, while internally everything is probably already lost.

"The decision to boycott is about minimising risks. That is why I cannot say with certainty that this is a serious mistake for Tsikhanouskaya in the situation in which she and her bodies find themselves," the political scientist believes.

Commenting on the goals that the demforces could theoretically set for themselves, Shraibman said that attempts to achieve most of them have become either pointless or dangerous, or both at the same time. 

"I would suggest voting specifically for Haidukevich"

Belarusian entrepreneur and blogger Aliaksandr Knyrovich told Euroradio that the pro-government Belaya Rus party will take most of the seats in parliament, with the rest divided equally between the other parties.

"Now everything is going the way it should. Previously, Lukashenka allowed parliament to work within a framework drawn up by the presidential administration. Most of the laws passed by parliament were not proposed by him, but by the same administration or the Council of Ministers. Now the parliament will be even more of an imitation than before".

According to Knyrovich, the situation in the Belarusian parliament will be about the same as in China, where about two thirds of the seats are occupied by the Communist Party.

"I think about 80 seats will be taken by 'Belaya Rus', while the rest will be evenly distributed among the others".

He also believes that the existing parties have nothing to offer and no real political power.

"The same Aleg Haidukevich has no desire to make decisions, he has no such goal in principle. The authorities know that they are completely illegitimate and that they can only survive thanks to the siloviki, so it is obvious that democratic delegates will not even be allowed to register as candidates. In such a situation I would suggest voting for Haidukevich. Why not? Let them decide now who is a real threat," laughs Aliaksandr.