Belarus’ President Lukashenko extends term despite opposition and EU’s rejection of election

Since then, more than 65,000 people were arrested and thousands beaten, with the crackdown bringing condemnation and sanctions from the West.

The EU rejected Sunday’s vote as illegitimate and threatened new sanctions.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the election offered no choice to voters, marking “a bitter day for all those who long for freedom and democracy.”

“Instead of free and fair elections and a life without fear and arbitrariness, they experience daily oppression, repression and human rights violations,” she said in a post on X.

Lukashenko has been in power since 1994 and has ruled the country with an iron fist. He has relied on subsidies and political support from Russian President Vladimir Putin, himself in office for a quarter-century, a relationship that helped him survive the 2020 protests.

Lukashenko allowed Moscow to use the country’s territory to invade Ukraine in 2022 and later hosted 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 feared a repeat of those mass demonstrations amid economic troubles and the fighting in Ukraine, and so scheduled the vote in January, when few would want to fill the streets again, rather than hold it in August.

Leading opponents have fled abroad or were thrown in prison. Activists say the country holds nearly 1,300 political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, founder of the Viasna Human Rights Center.

Since July, Lukashenko has pardoned more than 250 people. At the same time, authorities have sought to uproot dissent by arresting hundreds more in raids targeting relatives and friends of political prisoners.

Opposition leader-in-exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who fled Belarus under government pressure after challenging Lukashenko in 2020, denounced the election as a “senseless farce” and urged voters to cross off everyone listed on the ballot.