Longtime Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has been declared winner of a disputed presidential election, securing a seventh straight term, according to the country’s electoral body, Al Jazeera reported.
Lukashenko, whose four opponents on the ballot were loyal to him and praised his 30-year rule, took 86.8 percent of the vote, according to initial results published by the Central Election Commission on its official Telegram account.
“You can congratulate the Republic of Belarus, we have elected a president,” Igor Karpenko, head of the commission, told a news conference on Monday.
Election officials said turnout in Sunday’s vote was 85.7 percent, with about 6.9 million people eligible to vote.
Lukashenko has won every presidential election since 1994, in polls that his opponents, Western governments and rights groups rejected as a “sham”.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Lukashenko, saying the election showed he had the “undoubted” backing of the people.
bd-pratidin/GR
