Alexander Lukashenko wins 7th term as Belarus president

MINSK,— Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has secured another term in office after electoral officials announced the results of the presidential election on Monday.

The outcome has drawn widespread criticism from Western governments, who have called the election a farce.

Igor Karpenko, head of Belarus’s Central Election Commission, confirmed the result in a news conference early Monday. “You can congratulate the Republic of Belarus, we have elected a president,” Karpenko stated.

Lukashenko, who has been in power for 31 years, received 86.8% of the vote, according to initial figures released by the Central Election Commission’s official Telegram account.

There were no significant challenges from the other candidates, all of whom were widely seen as controlled by the regime. The official turnout for the election was reported at 85.7%, with 6.9 million citizens eligible to vote.

European leaders quickly rejects the election, calling it neither free nor fair. The lack of independent media in Belarus and the ongoing repression of opposition figures have raised serious concerns about the election’s legitimacy.

“The people of Belarus had no choice. It is a bitter day for all those who long for freedom & democracy,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wrote on social media platform X.

Lukashenko’s critics have long pointed out that his rule has been marked by suppression of dissent and media freedom. Most leading opposition figures have either been imprisoned or forced into exile.

On Sunday, Lukashenko dismissed questions about his opponents’ imprisonment, saying, “Some chose prison, some chose ‘exile,’ as you say. We didn’t kick anyone out of the country.”

Lukashenko, who has aligned himself closely with Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been in power since 1994 and has maintained a firm grip on the country. His relationship with Putin strengthened in recent years, particularly after Lukashenko allowed Russian forces to use Belarus as a launch point for their invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

In an often combative news conference, Lukashenko insisted that he did not care about Western criticism, stating, “I don’t give a damn about the West.”

Exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told Reuters that Lukashenko had rigged the election to ensure his continued rule, labeling the process as “a ritual for dictators.” Meanwhile, protests were held in Warsaw and other Eastern European cities in response to the vote.

The European Union and the United States, which have long disputed the legitimacy of Lukashenko’s rule, declined to recognize him as the legitimate leader of Belarus. The U.S. and EU had previously supported Tsikhanouskaya in the 2020 election, when protests erupted after Lukashenko claimed victory in a race widely seen as fraudulent.

Human rights group Viasna, which is banned in Belarus, claims that around 1,250 political prisoners remain in Lukashenko’s jails. However, the president has freed over 250 individuals in the past year, citing humanitarian reasons.

On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that Belarus had “just unilaterally released an innocent American,” Anastassia Nuhfer. Details about the case have not been made public.

The ongoing war in Ukraine has further tied Lukashenko to Putin, with Russia now deploying tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. Political analysts suggest that once the conflict subsides, Lukashenko may seek to restore relations with the West in hopes of lifting international sanctions.

(With files from Reuters)