Belarus' authoritarian leader and Vladimir Putin ally Alexander Lukashenko extended his 31-year rule to a seventh term after being declared the winner of a presidential election widely seen as a farce by the West.
The Central Election Commission said on Monday that Lukashenko had won 86.8 percent of the vote and that turnout was nearly 87 percent. But European politicians say the election was neither free nor fair, as independent media is banned in the former Soviet republic and all opposition figures have either been jailed or fled the country.
There were four other names on the ballot, but there was no real contender among them who could challenge the incumbent. International observers were also not allowed to monitor the vote.
The European Union's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, called the elections a flagrant violation of democracy, while German Foreign Minister Analena Barbok posted on 'X' that the people of Belarus had not had a choice.
The Kremlin thinks otherwise, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov announcing that President Putin had congratulated his close ally on his convincing victory. According to him, the elections in Belarus had been completely legal, well-organized and transparent.
Meanwhile, exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhonovskaya described the vote as another Ukrainian political farce. (A2 Televizion)
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