DUSHANBE, October 12, 2015, Asia-Plus – Belarus incumbent president, who has ruled for 20 years, retained power after winning nearly 83.50% of the vote and could now see EU sanctions lifted for four months
Alexander Lukashenko has won a fifth term as president of Belarus with a landslide victory.
According to Belarusian media outlets, the central election commission said late on Sunday that Lukashenko won 83.49% of the vote. Turnout was 86.75%, the commission added.
Tatiana Korotkevich gained 4.42% of the vote, Sergei Gaidukevich – 3.32% and Nikolai Ulakhovich – 1.67%.
More than 6% of voters voted against all candidates. This figure is lower in the regions. For example, in Brest Oblast it was at 4.38%.
The Central Election Committee chairperson Lidia Yermoshina once again emphasized that this is the provisional data,
BelTA
reports. The final results will be announced after the regional election commissions and the election commission of the city of Minsk sign the final vote protocols for each candidate.
Meanwhile, some international media outlets report that the victory could see an easing of relations with the west and raise questions about his ties to Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
The Guardian
reports that Lukashenko’s re-election five years ago led to mass protests and the imprisonment of leading opposition figures, but support for his 20-year-old regime has risen since he cast himself as a guarantor of stability in the face of economic crisis and a pro-Russia separatist conflict in neighboring Ukraine.
The west has long ostracized Lukashenko’s Belarus – described in 2005 by then US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice as “Europe’s last dictatorship” – over its human rights record and clampdown on political dissent. It has imposed economic sanctions on some Belarusian officials and companies.
Nevertheless, Lukashenko’s criticism of Russia’s annexation of the Crimea peninsula in Ukraine last year, his hosting of Ukraine peace talks and his pardoning of six opposition leaders in August suggest he is seeking to improve his image in the west, observers say.
