Lukashenko Declared Winner Again in Belarus Election

Belarus’s election commission has announced Alexander Lukashenko as the winner of the presidential election, with 86.82% of the vote according to preliminary results. This is the highest percentage of votes he has received to date.

The final results will be officially confirmed on February 3, but this is considered a formality. It was anticipated that Lukashenko would be declared president for the seventh consecutive time.

Independent media are banned in the country, and significant opposition figures have been imprisoned or have fled abroad. Stricter measures were enforced at polling stations: ballots could not be photographed, a change from the 2020 elections when supporters of opposition candidate Tikhanovskaya photographed their ballots to prove they voted for her.

This year, voting booths were without curtains to prevent covert photography. Opposition members who fled advised their supporters to abstain from voting in protest.

Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, extends his 31-year rule by another five years with this election victory. After his 2020 re-election, both the US and the EU stated they did not recognize Lukashenko as the legitimate leader of Belarus.

Protests erupted in the country following the results, and Lukashenko responded with a crackdown, arresting tens of thousands. This year, the US and the EU pre-emptively declared the elections neither free nor fair.

Source: NOS

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