Why European Union is watching the Belarus vote

On Sunday, some six million Belarussians are eligible to vote in the country’s presidential election. Whether they do or not, the outcome is hardly in doubt — the results could show incumbent strongman Alexander Lukashenko winning. At stake isn’t who will win, it’s how will the inevitable victory go down in a nation that has been rocked by months of political and economic chaos — and that was before Lukashenko simply ignored the very existence of coronavirus and behaved outrageously. Instead of a lockdown to stem the pandemic, Lukashenko has suggested saunas or copious consumption of vodka will rid the nation of just under 9.5 million of COVID-19. If that’s hard to swallow Lukashenko, a...