The surprise opposition candidate mounting the most serious challenge in years to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Friday that her country was waking up, but warned the strongman planned to rig the vote. "People are waking up, rediscovering their self-respect," 37-year-old Svetlana Tikhanovskaya told AFP in an interview in central Minsk. "We won't be able to prevent falsifications. We've seen over the past couple of days how brazenly this election is being falsified. There is no hope that they will count honestly," she said. tk-pop-as/mm/ach