Belarusian election extends President Lukashenko’s rule, opposition and EU call it a sham

• Belarus held an orchestrated election over the weekend that the opposition and the European Union rejected as a farce, extending authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko’s power for more than three decades.
• Belarus’s 2020 election was also called a sham by dissidents, triggering months of unprecedented protests in the country.
• Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, has relied on subsidies and political support from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who also helped him survive the 2020 protests.

Dictatorship in Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko He extended power for more than three decades in a carefully orchestrated weekend election that the opposition and the European Union dismissed as a farce.

The Central Election Commission announced early Monday that Lukashenko had won the election with nearly 87% of the vote, after all four symbolic challengers praised his rule.

Members of the country’s political opposition, many of whom are imprisoned or in exile due to Lukashenko’s ruthless crackdown on dissent and free speech, have called the election a sham, just as the last election in 2020 sparked a long-running Months of protests, unprecedented in history. A country with a population of 9 million.

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More than 65,000 people have since been arrested and thousands beaten, in a crackdown that has drawn Western condemnation and sanctions.

The European Union rejected Sunday’s vote, calling it illegal and threatening new sanctions.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock said the election left voters with no choice and was “a painful day for everyone who longs for freedom and democracy.”

“Instead of receiving free and fair elections and living a life free from fear and arbitrariness, they experience oppression, repression and human rights violations every day,” she said in a post on X.

Lukashenko has ruled the country with an iron fist since taking power in 1994. He relies on government subsidies and political support Russian President Vladimir PutinHe himself has been in office for a quarter of a century, and that relationship helped him weather the 2020 protests.

Lukashenko allowed Moscow to use the country’s territory to invade Ukraine in 2022 and subsequently deployed some of Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons.

Putin called Lukashenko on Monday to congratulate him on his “convincing victory.” Chinese President Xi Jinping also sent congratulations.

Some observers believe Lukashenko, fearful of renewed mass demonstrations amid economic difficulties and the war in Ukraine, scheduled the vote in January, when few people were willing to take to the streets again, rather than holding the vote in August.

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Key opponents have fled abroad or been jailed. Activists say the country holds nearly 1,300 political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski, founder of the Viasna Center for Human Rights.

Since July, Lukashenko has pardoned more than 250 people. Meanwhile, authorities have arrested hundreds more in raids targeting relatives and friends of political prisoners in an effort to stamp out dissent.

Exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Who fled Belarus After challenging Lukashenko in 2020, he bowed to government pressure and denounced the election as a “meaningless farce” and urged voters to cross out everyone listed on the ballot.