ABSTRACT
Elections in Belarus have become “potemkinism” with the sole purpose of reinforcing the authoritarian system. During the 2020 presidential election, however, the electoral process turned from meaningless to meaningful as formerly apolitical residents actively participated en masse throughout the whole electoral process. What circumstances contributed to this unexpected development? The election clearly illustrates what the theory about electoral authoritarianism refers to as the “politics of uncertainty.” Three types of uncertainty in particular contributed to the processes which gave the election and its aftermath its remarkable character. First, the Belarusian regime was haunted by inherent institutional and informational uncertainty, which made it vulnerable. Second, until 2020, the regime had successfully neutralized the routine uncertainty stemming from the election itself, but this time they failed. The electoral situation opened a window of opportunity for latent threats to authoritarian legitimacy to surface and become the backbone of antiregime mobilization. Finally, this would not have happened without the extreme uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. The perceived lack of governmental response to the crisis intensified the impact of the inherent and routine uncertainty to the extent that it resulted in societal mass mobilization and repoliticization.
