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| - Stay-at-home-mother Svetlana Tikhanovskaya never thought she would run for president or become the leader of the Belarusian protest movement. But in a tale worthy of Hollywood, in a matter of weeks the 37-year-old has gone from a political unknown to the biggest challenge ever to Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko's rule. Tikhanovskaya claimed victory in the August 9 election, declaring the vote rigged in favour of Lukashenko, and shortly after fled to neighbouring Lithuania. She has continued to lead the opposition from abroad in a bid to put an end Lukashenko's 26 years in power, calling protests that have brought unprecedented crowds into the streets of Belarusian cities. On Monday, she stepped up her challenge to Lukashenko by declaring that she was ready to be "national leader". "I did not want to be a politician. But fate decreed that I'd find myself on the frontline of a confrontation against arbitrary rule and injustice," she said. "I am ready to take responsibility and act as a national leader during this period." An English teacher by training, Tikhanovskaya said she contested the election to get her jailed blogger husband out of prison and win much-needed freedom for the ex-Soviet country of 9.5 million people. She only made the decision to stand for president in May. Her husband, Sergei Tikhanovsky, had been detained on charges of plotting mass unrest and could not submit his own presidential bid in time. The electoral commission allowed Tikhanovskaya to stand instead, dropping two stronger opposition candidates. Despite a lack of political experience, she quickly emerged as the country's top opposition figure. In speeches, Tikhanovskaya called herself an "ordinary woman, a mother and wife" and pumped up crowds with calls for change. "I have become the embodiment of people's hope, their longing for change," she told AFP in an interview ahead of election day. Following the disputed vote, she crossed into Lithuania in the early hours of August 11. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said she came under "pressure" and "did not have very much choice" after a seven-hour meeting at the Belarus central election commission amid clashes in Minsk. She was reunited with her children, who had been sent to Lithuania earlier in the campaign for safety. In the first of several video messages through which she has communicated since then, a distressed-looking Tikhanovskaya said she had made the "very difficult decision" to leave for the sake of her children. The improbable momentum behind her campaign has prompted comparisons to historical heroines. The Village, a Minsk-based news site, called her "an accidental Joan of Arc," the 15th-century French peasant who helped achieve a pivotal military victory against the English before she was burned at the stake. "You're a wife of a Decembrist!" one supporter shouted at a rally, referring to 19th-century aristocrats who followed their husbands into Siberian exile. Hesitant in early television appearances, Tikhanovskaya won praise for her speeches as the campaign gained momentum. Allocated live slots on state television, she listed alleged lies by Lukashenko's regime, repeating: "They won't show you this on television". Tikhanovskaya's simple but direct speeches prompted lengthy cheers at crowded rallies. She accused Lukashenko of showing blatant disregard for the people during the coronavirus epidemic, which the strongman has dismissed as a hoax. Image-wise, she pulled off a transformation with help from two women with more experience. These are Veronika Tsepkalo, whose ex-diplomat husband Valery Tsepkalo was barred from standing, and Maria Kolesnikova, campaign chief of ex-banker Viktor Babaryko who was also dropped from the polls and is in jail. The two women flanked her at rallies -- with one Belarusian news outlet nicknaming them "Charlie's Angels". The women wore t-shirts with a design featuring their signature gestures: Tikhanovskaya's punched fist, Kolesnikova's fingers in a heart shape and Tsepkalo's victory sign. Tikhanovskaya grew up in Mikashevichi, a small town south of Minsk. With top grades she studied to become a teacher of English and German in the historic city of Mozyr. It was there she met her future husband, who owned a nightclub. am-as-dt/ach
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