The prime minister of Belarus has stoically defended the country’s democracy after he secured another landslide election victory with 86.8 per cent of the vote.
Alexander Lukashenko, once dubbed “Europe’s last dictator”, extended his 31-year rule after results were released early on Monday, showing he will enjoy a seventh term in power.
Unlike in 2020, when Lukashenko allowed an unusually competitive election and faced the greatest threat to his regime since he came to power in 1994, Sunday’s result was never in doubt.
In this stage-managed affair, Lukashenko faced only token opposition, with one candidate admitting he was running merely “alongside” the strongman leader, not instead of him.
In a press conference held as voting was taking place, Steve Rosenberg, the BBC’s Russia editor, questioned Lukashenko on the validity of the election, asking: “How can you call this a democratic election, when your main rivals are either in prison or in exile?”
He responded by saying: “Some are in prison, and some are in exile. But you are here!
“Everyone has the right to choose. That is democracy. Some chose prison, others chose exile. We never forced anyone out of the country.”
Watch the clip in full below:
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