Belarusian President, Alexander Lukashenko has announced his willingness to share power and change the constitution, but will not do so under pressure from protesters.

Lukashenko who made the remarks at a tractor plant in Minsk today revealed that work was already underway on possible changes to the constitution that could redistribute power adding that he has told workers that there would be no new presidential election after a disputed August 9 vote. He said:

"We held elections already. Until you kill me, there will be no other elections."

Recall that nearly 5,000 workers from the Minsk Tractor Works plant, which has been on strike since Monday morning, marched down the streets, demanding that Lukashenko steps down and give up his post to Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the leading opposition candidate as Sergei Dylevsky, the leader of the protest at the Minsk Tractor Works plant, told newsmen:

"Lukashenko is a former president, he needs to go, Sveta (Tikhanovskaya) is our president, legitimate and elected by the people."

However, the embattled president earlier today told a crowd of about  50,000 people that the country would "perish as a state" otherwise, and criticized the protesters whom he referred to as stooges of foreign masterminds.