'The united opposition campaigns are urging all voters to cast ballots for Tsikhanouskaya and to protect the election against possible fraud.''The Belarusian opposition's main presidential candidate has held two mass rallies as the campaign heats up to unseat authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka in next month's election.
The campaigns of three opposition figures said earlier this week they would unify around presidential candidate Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya to "defeat" the "longtime dictatorial regime."
Tsikhanouskaya and representatives of two opposition candidates who were denied registration as presidential candidates, former Belgazprombank head Viktar Babaryka and prominent businessman Valer Tsapkala, appeared at the July 19 rallies in Minsk and the nearby city of Dzyarzhynsk.
Tsikhanouskaya told several thousand in attendance that the authorities did not register Babaryka and Tsapkala because they were scared.
"They saw a threat to the government, but they did not understand that the threat is not in the candidates, but in the people themselves, who are tired of living in humiliation and fear," Tsikhanouskaya said.
Unlike at recent demonstrations, the authorities allowed the gathering and the police didn't intervene.
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The united opposition campaigns are urging all voters to cast ballots for Tsikhanouskaya and to protect the election against possible fraud.'
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Unified Belarusian Opposition Holds Massive Election Rally Against Strongman Lukashenka, July 19, 2020
Context(Belarus) - '..to continue to do what we can to urge the government of Belarus to improve its record on human rights and democracy..'