Belarus President ‘Wins’ Reelection While American Is Freed (Worthy News Focus)

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

MINSK/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Europe’s longest-serving leader, President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, clinched his seventh straight election victory on Sunday and ordered the release of an American woman who had been held in the autocratically-ruled nation.

Critics said Lukashenko, “Europe’s last dictator,” was declared the winner after a race they dismissed as “a sham” to tighten his iron grip on the ex-Soviet republic, Russia’s closest ally.

“Don’t use the word election to describe this farce,” said Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, an opposition leader who fled Belarus after the country’s previous presidential election in 2020 and a brutal crackdown on nationwide protests over vote-rigging. “It’s a staged show by Lukashenko to cling to power at all costs.”

The Central Election Commission declared that the strongman leader won by a landslide, garnering nearly 87.6 percent of the vote, higher than the 81 percent he was declared to have won in 2020. Like all aspects of elections in Belarus, Exit polls are controlled by the state and generally reflect the final outcome, observers said.

But his opponents, many of whom are imprisoned or exiled abroad by his unrelenting crackdown on dissent and free speech, would disagree.

They recall that the perceived fraudulent election in 2020 triggered months of the largest protests in the recorded history of the country of 9 million people.

The crackdown saw more than 65,000 arrests, with thousands beaten, rights groups said, bringing condemnation and sanctions from the West.

IRON-FIST

His iron-fisted rule since 1994 – Lukashenko took office two years after the demise of the Soviet Union – earned him the nickname of

“Europe’s last dictator,” relying on subsidies and political support from close ally Russia.

Unlike in 2020, when Tikhanovskaya was allowed to run against Lukashenko and declared herself the winner, Sunday’s election was a tightly controlled and tame affair, with only candidates loyal to the president running. No one indicated they wanted to defeat the 70-year-old Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron fist since 1994.

His victory came while Belarus “unilaterally” released American woman Anastassia Nuhfer from detention, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

It was not specified when or why the woman, who was arrested under former President Joe Biden, was released. She was detained during former President Joe Biden’s term, but when or why was not specified. Thousands of Lukashenko’s opponents have been arrested in recent years.

The West has condemned Belarus over its perceived poor record on human rights and for allowing Russian forces to launch part of Russia’s offensive against Ukraine from its territory.

Asked last year whether he would be prepared to allow his country again to be used as a staging ground for Russia’s ongoing invasion, he answered: “Yes, I’m ready. I’m ready to provide [territory] again. I’m also ready to wage war alongside the Russians from the territory of Belarus. But only if someone – even a single soldier – enters our territory from there (Ukraine) with weapons to kill my people.”

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