Belarusian society is pessimistic. For the first time over the period of being in power, rating of Lukashenko fell to 33%. The number of opposition, by contrast, is growing.
Belarusian society in June 2011 was mainly pessimistic, as to a poll conducted by IISEPS. This was reported in a research note of Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies (BISS).
More than 60% of Belarusians believe that situation in the country develops in the wrong direction (this is a record number since 2003). Moreover, for the first time over the past 10 years, more than a half of the population (55%) supposes that socio-economic situation in Belarus in the next few years will deteriorate (only 12% suppose it will improve).
The level of support to Alexander Lukashenko, who still is the dominant political figure, has fallen from 55% in December 2010 to 33% in June2011 Such significant drop in the level of support is noticed for the first time, while Lukashenko is staying in power. The percentage of respondents who consider themselves in opposition to the current regime has increased from 19% in December 2010 to 26% in June 2011.
Even the events of year 2009, when there was the peak of the global economic crisis, has not caused such a wave of pessimism in Belarusian society, as for the last few months or even weeks. So far there is no clarity whether the rating of Lukashenko’s support has reached its bottom, or the fall is continuing.
Perhaps it would be possible to restore public confidence for authorities, as suggest experts of BISS, if they came closely to solving the economic issues. However, while there is the absence of an effective strategy to resolve the crisis, the regime clearly focuses on security and political issues, and is looking for enemies, whom the guilt could be attributed to. The longer this goes on, the smaller the number of people who trust the authorities will be.
