The president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenkohas been re-elected this Sunday for a seventh term at the head of the former Soviet republic with 87.60% of the votes, according to the first official exit polls.
In this way, Lukashenko He will remain in power until 2030. After him, the ‘Vote against all’ option would have been the second most supported option by Belarusians at the polls, with 5.1% of the votes as reported by the Committee of Youth Organizations on public television.
While waiting for these results to be officially confirmed, The West has already rejected the legitimacy of these electionsas well as the Belarusian opposition itself. This ensures that the large participation of votes that occurred in advance (41.81% of all the seven million citizens called to the polls) represent one of the tools of the ruling regime to remain in power.
The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, assured this Saturday that Lukashenko’s self-proclamation as president of Belarus after the elections this Sunday It will be a “flagrant affront to democracy” and that this has “no legitimacy.”
Also the leader of the Belarusian opposition in exile, Svetlana Tijanóvskaya, assured that This election is a “farce” and that “the United States and 37 OSCE countries” have stated that they do not recognize the Belarusian elections. Tijanóvskaya also highlighted that this is the first time that Western countries express their rejection of the electoral result in Belarus even before it is known.
Given these statements, Lukashenko, in power since 1994, assured this Sunday after voting at a polling station in Minsk that he does not care if Western countries do not recognize the presidential elections on January 26. “They recognize them or not recognize them in the European Union (EU), it is a matter of taste. Believe me, it doesn’t matter to me at all. The important thing is that the elections are recognized by Belarusians,” the president told the press.
#Lukashenko #reelected #votes #seventh #term #Belarus #exit #polls
