Oleksandr Lukashenko wins the So-called elections in Belarus with 87.6%.
The Belarusian state news agency “Belta” refers to ExitPol, the results of which were announced on the air of the state channel “First Information”. The “against all” option is said to have received 5.1% of the votes. 7.3% of the votes were cast for four candidates.
The CEC claims turnout was over 80%.
EU High Representative Kai Kallas and EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos in a joint statement said the elections were “neither free nor fair”.
They stressed that “unprecedented repression of human rights, restrictions on political participation and access to independent media in Belarus” deprived the electoral process of legitimacy.
The statement said the Lukashenko regime’s decision to invite ODIP/OSCE observers 10 days before the election “deprived this independent body of access to key stages of the electoral process.”
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also stated that the vote in Belarus cannot be considered a presidential election, since its result is known in advance:
The issue of recognizing Lukashenko’s legitimacy is not relevant for Ukraine, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs George Tichy, adding that there is no reason to restore contact with the Belarusian authorities.
The European Parliament called on EU countries and the international community not to recognize future elections and campaigns in Belarus as they do not meet the standards of democratic elections.
The OSCE refused to send observers to monitor the vote.
Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, regularly faces criticism for his lack of democratic elections and suppression of political opposition.
On the eve of voting day, he rejected the opportunity to repeat the events of 2020, when tens of thousands of Belarusians took part in protests against the falsification of the presidential elections.
Source: Racurs
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