The authoritarian leader of 21 years faced no serious competition in the election, which was boycotted by the opposition.
Advertisement
Then USA secretary of state Condoleezza Rice famously described Lukashenko-ruled Belarus as “Europe’s last dictatorship” in 2005 over the president’s poor human rights record. “The economic crisis should logically have led to a fall in trust, but this was neutralised by the Ukraine crisis, which seriously scared Belarussian society”, said Valery Karbalevich, who has written a biography of the president.
In the past year, he has hosted a series of peace talks on Ukraine, shaken hands with world leaders and had his photo taken with President Obama after the United Nations General Assembly meeting last month.
“It is clear that Belarus still has a long way to go towards fulfilling its democratic commitments”, Kent Harstedt, head of the OSCE mission, said in a statement.
While no reliable independent exit polls were conducted, the state sociology institute said its survey suggested Lukashenko would get 83 percent of the vote.
Belarus’ former Soviet master Russian Federation, which props up Lukashenko’s regime financially, has been warily eyeing the president’s attempts at rapprochement with the West.
Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said that Europeans have doubts about their compliance with global standards after the presidential elections, adding that the issue of sanctions “will be solved”.
Sergei Gaidukevich, the chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party who unsuccessfully ran in previous elections, received 3.32 percent of votes.
He recalled Putin has already sent a message of greeting to Lukashenko to congratulate him upon his convincing victory in the presidential election. The Kremlin said the results of the vote “showed wide support for Lukashenko from Belarusian public”. Opposition leaders failed to register a candidate, while Mikolai Statkevich, a dissident jailed after running against him in 2010, was released from prison a day after the deadline passed in August.
The turnout yesterday was highest in the northern Vitebsk region where 91 per cent of voters cast their ballots, andtopped 90 per cent in two other regions. Police arrived and warned the protesters to disperse.
“When we began the campaign, I had a rating of 2 per cent. It would be odd to say that we want to win”, she said in the interview.
Advertisement
“Every four years, new European officials come to power and think they can solve the Lukashenko problem without knowing that he is a man who is untrustworthy”, Alexievich told a news conference in Berlin on the eve of the election, which she claims will be rigged.
