In a presidential election dismissed as a farce and an affront to democracy, strongman Alexander Lukashenko has secured a seventh term in power to extend his 30 years of rule over Belarus.
State media reported that 70-year-old Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, garnered 86.8% of the vote, according to preliminary results announced by the electoral commission.
With opposition politicians either in exile or imprisoned, and the four alternative candidates seen as state-approved extras in a rigged election, it was seen as inevitable that Lukashenko would obtain another five-year term in the presidency.
Around 6.9 million people were eligible to vote in the former Soviet republic closely aligned with Moscow, but their ballots on Sunday were not considered to count for much.
Voter turnout was reported at 85.7%, according to the preliminary results.
‘Nothing to do with reality’
Political scientist Valery Karbalevich, who fled into exile abroad because his life was in danger, told dpa the numbers published in Belarus had “nothing to do with reality.”
“The power apparatus decides on the numbers in advance.”
According to Karbalevich, Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, would have had no chance of victory in an election with real oppostion alternative candidates.
As voters were casting their ballots, the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas condemned in a post on X the “sham elections.” She called them “a blatant affront to democracy.”
However Lukashenko, casting his vote in the capital Minsk, said Belarus does not need approval from abroad and that it did not matter to him whether the European Union recognizes the election or not.
“Recognize these elections or not, that’s a matter of taste. I couldn’t care less,” Lukashenko told journalists in Minsk.
Following the last election in 2020, the electoral commission awarded Lukashenko 80.1% of the vote, with a turnout of 84.4%. This triggered nationwide pro-democracy protests, which Lukashenko violently suppressed with the help of Russia.
The United Nations estimates that 300,000 people have left Belarus since then. Human rights activists say there are more than 1,200 political prisoners in Belarus, which is the last in Europe to still use the death penalty.
No opposition, no independent observers
Parts of the political opposition in exile had called for Belarusians to boycott the election altogether, while other camps said people should select the “against all” option on the ballot paper. Exit polls conducted by a state institute showed 5.1% chose this option.
Supporters of exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who many see as the real winner in 2020, have called on the international community not to recognize either the election or Lukashenko as president.
Karbalevich says Lukashenko has cast himself as the guardian of peace and stability, particularly in view of Russia’s war against neighbouring Ukraine. “He now has the support of many who were against him in 2020, but who were already pro-Russian then,” he said.
Karbalevich told dpa that the country’s KGB secret service maintains a tight grip on the country, and that voters fear criminal consequences if they even read information that is critical of the government on their phones.
Belarus is subject to Western sanctions because of political repression and its support for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The country has benefited economically from its relationship with Moscow, including by importing cheap Russian gas and oil, and by supporting Russia’s war economy, Karbalevich said.
However, he said the country pays a heavy price for its dependency on Russia, namely by having less and less sovereignty.
