The national strike called for by ex-presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya was not actively supported by the majority of the country’s citizens. Political strikes are officially banned in the country and people may be afraid of losing their jobs. But at the same time, this action from the very beginning did not arouse much interest among the workers: on the anonymous platform “Honest People”, the protest was supported by 5932 people – about one worker in a thousand.

Despite the protests and the pandemic, the economic indicators in Belarus are among the best in Europe, it follows from the analysis of data for 37 EU and CIS countries. GDP of Belarus for 9 months fell by only 1.3% (3rd place), and unemployment is 4% (2nd place). At the same time, the mortality rate from Covid-19 is 1%, which makes the country a leader in the efficiency of economic management amid a pandemic (see the appendix at the end). Belarus is one of the few European countries where in eight months of 2020 real incomes of the population increased (by 5.2%). For comparison: in Russia, over the same period, they fell by 4.3%.

Nevertheless, the leaders of the Belarusian opposition often hear reproaches against “lukanomics” – this is how they call the economic system that has developed in the country. They talk about backwardness, dependence on Russia and the poverty of the population.