Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko won a fifth consecutive term in power on Sunday, extending his 21-year-long regime in a country diplomatically sandwiched between Russia and the West.
Lukashenko took 83.5% of the vote, the central election commission reported. This landslide exceeded Lukashenko’s 2010 victory that saw him re-elected with 80% of the vote, according to Reuters.
In the run up to the vote, the strong-arm ruler nominally eased pressure on opposition groups. He pardoned six opposition leaders in August, including Nikolai Statkevich, a former candidate who was jailed after participating in post-election protests in 2010.
But opposition figures called for a boycott of …read more
Source: Time
