MINSK: Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko was on monitor to increase his 31 12 months rule with 87.6 p.c of the vote in a presidential election on Sunday (Jan 26), based on an exit ballot broadcast on state TV, after hurling defiance on the West and defending the jailing of dissidents.
The shut ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin has led Belarus since 1994. The US and European Union each mentioned within the run as much as the election that it will be a sham as a result of impartial media are banned in Belarus and all main opposition figures have been despatched to penal colonies or pressured to flee overseas.
Challenged over the jailing of his opponents, Lukashenko advised journalists that they have been the authors of their very own destiny.
“Some selected jail, some selected ‘exile’, as you say. We did not kick anybody in a foreign country” he advised a marathon press convention lasting greater than 4 hours and 20 minutes.
He mentioned nobody was prevented from talking out in Belarus, however jail was “for individuals who opened their mouths too large, to place it bluntly, those that broke the legislation”.
The exit ballot was broadcast by state TV quickly after voting closed. Officers mentioned turnout was 81.5 p.c within the election, by which 6.9 million folks have been eligible to vote.
EU international coverage chief Kaja Kallas mentioned on the eve of the vote that it was a “blatant affront to democracy”.
Exiled opposition chief Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya advised Reuters this week that Lukashenko was engineering his re-election as a part of a “ritual for dictators”. Demonstrations in opposition to him came about on Sunday in Warsaw and different east European cities.
