Opposition rally as elections results give Lukashenko victory

(20 Mar 2006)
1. Zoom out from TV monitor showing President Alexander Lukashenko voting, to crowd gathered at square
2. Man standing on moving bus, waving flag
3. Protesters chanting "Long Live Belarus!"
4. Wide shot opposition candidate Alexander Milinkevich on stage
5. Protesters cheering
6. Close-up protesters holding candles
7. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Alexander Milinkevich, opposition presidential candidate:
"I think that everyone is in great mood because this is not just a rally or a gathering, this is the celebration of the nation's restoration, nation's awakening. They tried to bring people to their knees, to scare them. People overcame this fear, these are strong people."
8. Wide shot, pan, protesters at square
9. Zoom out from protesters holding candle to crowd chanting
10. Various protesters chanting
STORYLINE:
The main Belarusian opposition candidate, Alexander Milinkevich, called on Sunday for new presidential elections as thousands of his supporters jammed a main square in central Minsk to protest against the ballot result authorities said would hand incumbent Alexander Lukashenko a huge victory.
Central election commission secretary Nikolai Lozovik said Lukashenko had won 88.5 percent of the vote compared to 3.8 percent for Milinkevich, according to returns from nearly one-fifth of polling districts.
Some 92.6 percent of voters turned out, the commission said.
A landslide victory would mean third term for the authoritarian leader, who has ruled the ex-Soviet republic with an 'iron fist' since 1994.
Milinkevich, called on his supporters to return to a central Minsk square on Monday to continue their protest - signalling the opposition would try to hold a sustained protest of the sort that brought down long-lived regimes in former Soviet republics including Ukraine and Georgia.
"I think that everyone is in great mood because this is not just a rally or a gathering, this is the celebration of the nation's restoration, nation's awakening. They tried to bring people to their knees, to scare them. People overcame this fear, these are strong people." said Alexander Milinkevich, opposition presidential candidate.
Thousands had gathered at Oktyabrskaya Square to protest against the vote and rallied for about three hours before demonstrators moved toward another square to place flowers at a monument.
There were fears of violent confrontation as Milinkevich had called on supporters to come to the square to protest the vote, whose official results he said he will not accept.
The government had warned that election-day gatherings would not be allowed.
The crowd was the biggest the opposition had mustered in years, reaching at least 10,000 according to AP reporters' estimates.
Lukashenko has vowed to prevent the kind of mass rallies that helped bring opposition leaders to power in Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan following disputed elections, raising the threat of a forceful government response.
The use or threat of force neutralised opposition efforts to protest vote results in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan last year, and a bloody government crackdown in Uzbekistan left hundreds dead.
There was no immediate move by police to disperse the crowd though they closely guarded the building facing the main square that temporarily houses the election commission.

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