Belarusian election candidate has strong links with Roscrea

A WOMAN with strong links to Roscrea who ran in last Sunday's Belarusian presidential election to try to oust the country's authoritarian leader may have failed in her bid for power - but allegations of vote rigging to conseal her true level of support has brought thousands of people onto the streets of the capital Minsk to demand the resignation of the head of state, Alexander Lukashenko.
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya (37) was the main opponent in the election that saw President Lukashenko returned to power and retain his grip on a county he has ruled with an iron fist for the past 26 years.
On Tuesday last it emerged that Ms Tikhanovskaya, fearing for her life, fled the country to Lithuania for her owns safety and to be reunited with her two young children as thousands of her supporters were detained following protests and strong arm tactics by police
Ms Tikhanovskaya spent her summers as a child in Roscrea in the 1990s, travelling to the north Tipperary town with groups of children from Chernobyl to enjoy many holidays away from the harmful radiation caused by the Cherbobyl nuclear explosion in 1986.
Ms Tikhanovskaya, who had not been a political activist, decided to contest the elections following the arrest of her husband, Sergey, an activist, blogger and film-maker, because of his opposition to Mr Lukashenko's harsh regime.
Her husband was just one of many people in Belarus who have been taken from the streets and placed in pre-trial detention centres because of the outspoken stance they took against their president.
Ms Tikhanovskaya is still remembered fondly by many people in Roscrea. While many of the children from Chernobyl only came for one year, she returned year after year to the town to serve as an interpreter and to help other children.
She said she decided to contest the election because she did not want her children or other children to suffer under Mr Lukashenko’s regime as her generation have suffered.
The Chairman of Chernobyl Lifeline in Roscrea, Henry Deane, recently recalled on Tipp Fm Ms Tikhanovsky's visits to the north Tipperary town in the 1990s.
"We brought her back about seven or eight times. She spent the summer season here," Mr Deane revealed.
"Sometimes in the winter she would stay because she couldn’t afford her education as a teenager," said Mr Deane, recalling how local business people had given her employment. "That way she would take money back to pay for her education in Belarus."
Mr Deane said Ms Tikhanovsky was very much in danger based on the previous actions of Mr Lukashenko when it comes to political opponents.
"Undoubtedly she is in serious danger. She has two children who she worships, but she has had to send them out of the country for their own safety and she is at serious risk."
Amid allegations of vote rigging, Ms Tikhanovskaya, who was said to have secured less than 10 per cent of the vote, rejected the announced election result on Monday in which the reigning president was said to have won a landslide victory, gaining over 80 per cent support.
The announcement of his victory comes despite a popular wave of support for Ms Tikhanovskaya, whose pre-election political rallies had drawn some of the country's largest crowds since the days of the Soviet Union. 
The election result has sparked violence and protest across Belarus. In the aftermath of the result police have been beating and detaining peaceful protesters and supporters of Ms Tikhanovskaya who have turned out in their thousands in recent nights to demand the resignation of Mr Lukashenko.