Lukashenko heads for election win as rivals protest

MINSK, Mar 20 (Reuters) Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko looked to be heading for electoral victory today, but his liberal opponents took to the streets accusing him of rigging results and vowing a campaign of mass protest.

Some 10,000 people rallied in heavy snow in the central October Square after polls closed yesterday, a protest unmatched in recent years. Lukashenko had pledged to ''wring the necks'' of anyone threatening public order, but police took no action.

Official returns from yesterday's contest, with 72.2 per cent of the vote counted, gave Lukashenko 82.3 per cent to 5.8 per cent for main opposition candidate Alexander Milinkevich. Officials were due to make further announcements today morning.

The opposition rejected the returns as blatant fraud and said campaigning was marred by the arrests of dozens of opposition activists and mass intimidation.

Protesters stood in bitter winds waving flags and placards reading: ''We believe! We can do it! We shall win!'' Milinkevich urged his supporters to regroup again on Monday night.

''We have already achieved a colossal victory. People have overcome their fear. Our objective is new and fair elections,'' he said at the start of the rally.

His calls were reminiscent of events in the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Ukraine, where opposition activists mounted campaigns of mass protest against election results they said were fraudulent. In both countries, leaders were ultimately forced from power and replaced by pro-Western opponents.

KREMLIN CONCERN Those events clearly disturbed Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been at pains to restore as much as he can of Moscow's influence in former Soviet republics. While having little personal affection for the outspoken Lukashenko, he may see his success in Belarus as serving Kremlin interests.

Lukashenko can draw on strong domestic support especially in rural areas where many see his 12-year rule as having spared them the turmoil, hardship and ''wild'' capitalism seen in many ex-Soviet republics.

But in the West, Belarus is seen widely as a last bastion of Soviet-style government and economic organisation. He has been described by Washington as Europe's last true dictator.

The Belarus election is likely to top the agenda of a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers in Brussels today.

The EU has vowed to punish any vote-rigging with sanctions such as visa bans targeting those officials deemed responsible. If evidence points to vote-rigging, EU ministers could agree on a list Belarussian officials to face visa bans in coming weeks.

The bloc is reluctant to impose harsher measures such as economic sanctions for fear they would hit the Belarussian people rather than Lukashenko's government.

REUTERS VJ RAI0733