Posted: 7 August 2020| Region: Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia | Category: Analysis
Authors: Melissa Pavlik; Franklin Holcomb; Cristian Vlas
Weekly demonstrations have more than tripled going into the presidential election in Belarus as thousands take to the streets to protest the country’s closed political environment. ACLED Research Analyst Melissa Pavlik, Europe Research Manager Franklin Holcomb, and Europe Researcher Cristian Vlas chart key trends ahead of the vote.
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Melissa Pavlik is a former ACLED Research Consultant. Melissa focused on overarching trends of armed conflict across and within ACLED’s regions of study. She has degrees in Statistics and Political Science from the University of Chicago, and in War Studies from King’s College London. Her research focus includes violent non-state actors, conflict mapping, and American foreign policy.
Franklin is a Europe Research Manager at ACLED. Before joining ACLED, Franklin worked at the Institute for the Study of War where he authored multiple reports on the structure and capabilities of Ukrainian and Russian-led separatist forces. He also spent time as an academic assistant at the Baltic Defense College while working on his master's degree in Tartu, Estonia. Franklin graduated from Texas A&M University with a double major in Russian Language and International politics and diplomacy.
Cristian Vlas is the Assistant Research Manager at the Eastern Europe desk. His previous focus was political violence in Belarus, Hungary, Moldova, and Romania. His work experience includes four years of reporting on Moldova and the Transnistrian conflict settlement for Moldova.org, monitoring of the use of small arms and light weapons in Moldova at SEESAC's Armed Violence Monitoring Platform. He also worked on reporting and advocacy with the Romanian National Council of Refugees (CNRR). Cristian has a Master’s degree in International Relations from the Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary, and earned his Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and European Integration from the University of Pécs, Hungary.
Regions: Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia
