Belarus strongman extends his rule after an election rejected by opposition and the EU

Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko prolonged his greater than three many years in energy in Sunday’s orchestrated election that the opposition and the European Union rejected as a sham.

The Central Election Fee declared Lukashenko the winner within the early hours of Monday and reaffirmed it later within the morning, saying the strongman chief garnered practically 87% % of the vote after a marketing campaign through which 4 token challengers all have praised his rule.

Lukashenko’s opponents, a lot of whom are imprisoned or exiled overseas by his unrelenting crackdown on dissent and free speech, referred to as the election a sham — very similar to the final one in 2020 that triggered months of protests that had been unprecedented within the historical past of the nation of 9 million folks.

Over the next 4 years, greater than 65,000 folks had been arrested and 1000’s overwhelmed, with the crackdown bringing condemnation and sanctions from the West.

The European Union has rejected the Sunday’s election as illegitimate and threatened new sanctions.

Lukashenko has been in energy since 1994 and has dominated the nation with an iron fist. He depends on subsidies and political assist from Russia. Lukashenko allowed Moscow to make use of the nation’s territory to invade Ukraine in 2022 and later hosted a few of Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons.