Who is running for president of Belarus in 2025: candidates and programs
Belarus will hold presidential elections on January 26. Belarusians will have to choose from five candidates: their election programs were published last week in the republican newspaper Zviazda. There were seven candidates for the post of head of state, but in December 2024, two withdrew their candidacies and abandoned the race. As of today, incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko is leading among the competitors. Oleg Gaidukevich, Anna Kanopatskaya, Sergei Syrankov and Alexander Khizhnyak will also fight for the top post. What the contenders for the post of the head of the republic are known and what programs they have presented - in the material of "Izvestia.
Alexander Lukashenko - biography, party, program of the presidential candidate
The incumbent President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko filed documents for participation in the elections on December 17. It will be the seventh campaign for him. He expressed his intention to run in February 2024 at the municipal elections.
Alexander Grigorievich Lukashenko was born on August 30, 1954 in the urban settlement of Kopys, Orsha district, Vitebsk region of Belarus. In 1975 he graduated from the Faculty of History of the Mogilev Pedagogical Institute, and in 1985 - from the Belarusian Agricultural Academy.
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko
In 1990, Lukashenko was elected People's Deputy of Belarus, and four years later became president of the country for the first time, winning the election with the support of 80.3% of the vote. The current head of state is 70 years old and has been in office for almost 30 years. Lukashenko is also commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Belarus and heads the Security Council of the country.
According to the Belarusian Central Election Commission, Lukashenko collected 2.5 million signatures for the elections. He started his election campaign with visits to the regions: he talked to agrarians, students, pensioners and workers.
In his speech, Lukashenko often emphasizes the peace that the country manages to maintain amid the armed conflict in Ukraine, as well as the country's economic development.
"You and I as people of the military know well that life without war is the result of painstaking daily work. The threat of a new global conflict has never been as close as it is today," he said during the ceremony of awarding general's epaulettes to top officers.
Ballots for voting in the election of the President of Belarus
His election program, titled "Time Has Chosen Us," notes that the republic will continue to build a modern armed forces and cooperate with Russia "to ensure reliable security guarantees."
Oleg Gaidukevich - biography, party, program of the presidential candidate
Oleg Gaidukevich was born on March 26, 1977 in Minsk. Gaidukevich is the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Belarus, he is 47 years old. He had already run for president in 2020, but withdrew his candidacy shortly before the election. "To give my votes in support of the incumbent president, to work for consolidation in a crisis moment - this is my independent conscious choice, which I am still proud of," the politician told "Komsomolskaya Pravda" at the time.
He graduated from the Interior Ministry Academy in 1998. From 2012 to 2014, he was Deputy Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party of Belarus, and in 2019 headed it.
<p>Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Belarus Oleg Gaidukevich</p>
In his election program, the politician said that he plans to defend the interests of Belarus in all directions, calls independence and sovereignty the main priorities of the country's development, and proposes a parliamentary electoral reform. According to him, the union with Russia strengthens the sovereignty of the republic, while it's important for the country to support the integration projects of the EAEU and the Union State. It is also possible to develop relations with the EU - but only in the interests of the country, for cooperation and trade.
"We have always, since the founding of the party ... supported integration processes in the post-Soviet space, supported the union with Russia, now we support the EAEU, CSTO, SCO, BRICS. The union of Belarus and Russia strengthens our statehood and sovereignty," said Gaidukevich in his speech on the air of the First National Channel of the Belarusian radio.
Anna Kanopatskaya - biography, party, program of the presidential candidate
Anna Kanopatskaya was born in Minsk in 1976. Like Gaidukevich, she took part in the presidential elections - 2020, but gained less than 2% of the votes. At that time, she was in favor of breaking the union agreements with Russia.
She graduated from the Faculty of Law of the Belarusian State University. She started her political career in 1995, joining the United Civil Party. She was a member of this organization until 2019.
Belarusian presidential candidate Anna Kanopatskaya
Anna Kanopatskaya agitates for political reforms - she proposes to make Belarus a parliamentary republic, formalize a "democratic transition of power" and reduce the number of presidential terms. She also sees her goal as "normalization of Belarus' relations with the EU countries," proposes privatization of state property and the emergence of private ownership of land.
At the same time, Kanopatskaya calls the basis of her program the solution of demographic problems and support of birth rate, including through surrogacy programs.
Sergei Syrankov - biography, party, program of the presidential candidate
The representative of the Communist Party Sergei Syrankov is the youngest of the candidates, he is 41 years old. Syrankov was born on August 14, 1983 in the urban settlement of Krasnopolye, Mogilev region, Belarusian SSR. He graduated from the Mogilev State University named after A.A. Kuleshov. A.A. Kuleshov.
He is a fourth generation communist. He started his political career in the Krasnopolsky District Council of Deputies. Since May 2024 he has been First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus.
Sergei Syrankov, First Secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee, candidate for President of Belarus
In his election program he stated the need to build a society of social justice and universal average prosperity.
A separate topic in his program was the preservation of historical memory and anti-fascism. Syrankov agitates for the course of "struggle against neocolonialism, imperialism and discrimination" and advocates the construction of a multipolar, multi-structured world order. The candidate prioritizes cooperation with China, as well as integration within the framework of the Union State, EAEU, CSTO and CIS.
Oleksandr Khizhnyak - biography, party, program of the presidential candidate
The leader of the Republican Party of Labor and Justice, Alexander Khizhnyak, is going to the elections with a program entitled "Belarus-2030: continuity, stability, development." Khizhnyak was born on March 16, 1978 in the town of Khoiniki, Gomel region, Belarusian SSR. He has two higher educations - at the Belarusian Commercial University of Management, specializing in "Jurisprudence" and at the Academy of Management under the President of Belarus, specializing in "Public Administration and Ideology" and "Anti-crisis management".
Leader of the Republican Party of Labor and Justice Oleksandr Khizhnyak
He started his political career only in 2018 as a deputy of the Minsk City Council. In 2022 Aliaksandr Khizhnyak is the chairman of the RPTC.
In his election program, Khizhnyak advocates the increase of the minimum wage, adaptation of people to new working conditions and calls human potential the basis of a strong Belarus. The presidential candidate is sure that the country needs an economy of new horizons, innovative approaches and high productivity. According to the politician, it is equally important to support the real sector and sales markets.
Who left the election race
A total of seven candidates applied to the CEC of Belarus, but then two politicians refused to participate in the presidential race. They are Sergei Bobrikov, chairman of the Republican Council of the public association "Belarusian Union of Officers," and Olga Chemodanova, chairman of Minsk city organization "Belarusian Union of Women.
Siarhei Babrikov explained his decision by the difficult situation in the country and employment in other spheres. In his opinion, "in order to save the country, to ensure its stability, the main task of the officer corps of Belarus is to rally around the commander-in-chief".
Olga Chemodanova said that her team had achieved its goals. "We saw during the work on the pickets of our initiative citizens, who were part of the initiative groups, how the work of the headquarters was also organized, including in the organization. We can safely and clearly say that people are very responsible for such a period of the election campaign," shared the chairwoman of the Minsk city organization "Belarusian Women's Union". To date, these results satisfy the candidate.
