In Sunday’s presidential elections in Belarus, the incumbent Alexander Lukashenko claimed an overwhelming victory and secured his fifth term in office. This was hardly surprising — over two decades of one-man rule, political opposition has been eliminated, society has turned apathetic, and elections have become a farce. But the recent ballot was far from meaningless: Lukashenko expects the West to nod favorably at his re-election and to lend his regime long-denied international acceptance. And chances are that he will score that prize.
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Relations between Belarus and the West have long been strained. The EU and the U.S. have responded …read more
Source: European Voice
