Who is Lukashenko's challenger?

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, 37 years old teacher and interpreter by profession, represents the greatest challenge that the authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko has faced in 26 years of power. She does not describe herself as politics. In fact, she says she just wants her family back and to be able to c cook for them.

She worked in Gomel, the second largest city in Belarus and it was there that she met her husband, with whom she has two children. She stopped working to take care of her family. Although she says she never was interested in politics, she says she learned a lot about her country and its inhabitants traveling with her husband. She had to travel a lot for a videoblog he launched on YouTube. Her husband, the videoblogger Syarhei Tsikhanousky, 41 years old, wanted to challenge the president. However, he was arrested before the beginning of the electoral campaign and accused of participating in an unauthorized demonstration earlier this year.

Tens of thousands of people have attended the Tsikhanouskaya rallies - breaking records in a country where people have long been discouraged from participating in politics and tend to be dispassionate or frightened. Tsikhanouskaya's electoral program is rudimentary, but it has some clear objectives: the independence of Belarus and the release of all political prisoners, including her husband.