The Fort Worth Press - Polls open in Belarus with Lukashenko set to extend 30-year rule

USD -
AED 3.67293
AFN 75.579458
ALL 93.684261
AMD 400.552092
ANG 1.798867
AOA 913.500796
ARS 1048.990742
AUD 1.58946
AWG 1.8025
AZN 1.697138
BAM 1.861691
BBD 2.015325
BDT 121.726715
BGN 1.861691
BHD 0.376279
BIF 2953.786112
BMD 1
BND 1.345676
BOB 6.897339
BRL 5.913191
BSD 0.998144
BTN 86.050164
BWP 13.758507
BYN 3.266479
BYR 19600
BZD 2.00495
CAD 1.438395
CDF 2845.000202
CHF 0.907135
CLF 0.035514
CLP 979.943839
CNY 7.244102
CNH 7.25954
COP 4222.645281
CRC 503.64095
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 104.959307
CZK 23.974701
DJF 177.744991
DKK 7.13005
DOP 61.472562
DZD 134.215411
EGP 50.434267
ERN 15
ETB 128.437961
EUR 0.955485
FJD 2.30475
FKP 0.823587
GBP 0.80302
GEL 2.870016
GGP 0.823587
GHS 15.172053
GIP 0.823587
GMD 72.529093
GNF 8630.717243
GTQ 7.715006
GYD 208.823949
HKD 7.78841
HNL 25.416211
HRK 7.379548
HTG 130.388844
HUF 389.869921
IDR 16170.45
ILS 3.573596
IMP 0.823587
INR 86.210498
IQD 1307.600781
IRR 42099.999909
ISK 139.429566
JEP 0.823587
JMD 157.022512
JOD 0.709501
JPY 155.832496
KES 129.113322
KGS 87.450095
KHR 4016.943506
KMF 468.297745
KPW 900.000111
KRW 1429.630328
KWD 0.30807
KYD 0.83185
KZT 516.967303
LAK 21751.463519
LBP 89383.751368
LKR 297.701204
LRD 197.629813
LSL 18.332493
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.910761
MAD 9.967731
MDL 18.565513
MGA 4664.223502
MKD 58.57408
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3398.000107
MOP 8.008662
MRU 39.916234
MUR 46.34982
MVR 15.410443
MWK 1730.807672
MXN 20.46195
MYR 4.377504
MZN 63.910273
NAD 18.332493
NGN 1558.000251
NIO 36.73314
NOK 11.22665
NPR 137.680263
NZD 1.75699
OMR 0.384599
PAB 0.998144
PEN 3.70682
PGK 4.006473
PHP 58.249891
PKR 278.182666
PLN 4.025903
PYG 7897.767836
QAR 3.639046
RON 4.731605
RSD 111.484461
RUB 98.176919
RWF 1391.842368
SAR 3.7508
SBD 8.43942
SCR 14.338952
SDG 600.999671
SEK 10.96063
SGD 1.348315
SHP 0.823587
SLE 22.703264
SLL 20969.49992
SOS 570.463091
SRD 35.10497
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.733521
SYP 13001.999985
SZL 18.337062
THB 33.687504
TJS 10.87973
TMT 3.51
TND 3.176717
TOP 2.342103
TRY 35.666505
TTD 6.787873
TWD 32.748297
TZS 2542.287373
UAH 41.835324
UGX 3681.88092
UYU 43.396316
UZS 12944.648042
VES 56.580451
VND 25080
VUV 118.722008
WST 2.800827
XAF 624.393889
XAG 0.032783
XAU 0.000361
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.769026
XOF 624.393889
XPF 113.521489
YER 249.049738
ZAR 18.54161
ZMK 9001.20148
ZMW 27.723573
ZWL 321.999592
  • RBGPF

    62.2800

    62.28

    +100%

  • RELX

    -0.5400

    48.85

    -1.11%

  • BCC

    -1.3400

    127.11

    -1.05%

  • SCS

    -0.0700

    11.53

    -0.61%

  • NGG

    -0.4300

    60.28

    -0.71%

  • RYCEF

    0.0000

    7.55

    0%

  • BCE

    0.3100

    23.53

    +1.32%

  • CMSC

    0.1150

    23.6

    +0.49%

  • JRI

    0.0400

    12.59

    +0.32%

  • RIO

    0.5300

    62.09

    +0.85%

  • CMSD

    0.0900

    23.96

    +0.38%

  • GSK

    0.2200

    34.27

    +0.64%

  • VOD

    -0.0300

    8.37

    -0.36%

  • BTI

    0.8600

    37.91

    +2.27%

  • AZN

    0.4600

    69.06

    +0.67%

  • BP

    -0.0400

    31.45

    -0.13%

Polls open in Belarus with Lukashenko set to extend 30-year rule
Polls open in Belarus with Lukashenko set to extend 30-year rule / Photo: © AFP

Polls open in Belarus with Lukashenko set to extend 30-year rule

Belarusians began voting Sunday, with President Alexander Lukashenko expected to cruise to victory unchallenged for a seventh term, prolonging his three-decade authoritarian rule.

Text size:

Lukashenko -- a 70-year-old former collective farm boss -- has been in power in reclusive, Moscow-allied Belarus since 1994.

Polls opened at 08:00 am (0500 GMT) in Minsk's first presidential vote since Lukashenko suppressed mass protests against his rule in 2020. He has since allowed Moscow to use Belarusian territory to invade Ukraine in 2022.

The opposition and the West said Lukashenko rigged the last vote and the authorities cracked down on demonstrations, with more than a thousand people still jailed.

All of Lukashenko's political opponents are either in prison -- some held incommunicado -- or in exile along with tens of thousands of Belarusians who have fled since 2020.

"All our opponents and enemies should understand: do not hope, we will never repeat what we had in 2020," Lukashenko told a stadium in Minsk during a carefully choreographed ceremony Friday.

- Belarusians hope for 'no war' -

Most people in Belarus have only distant memories of life in the landlocked country before Lukashenko, who was 39 when he won the first national election in Belarus since it gained independence from the Soviet Union.

Criticism of the strongman is banned in Belarus. Most people AFP spoke to in Minsk and other towns voiced support for him, but were still fearful of giving their surnames.

The other candidates running against Lukashenko have been picked to give the election an air of democracy and few know who they are.

"I will vote for Lukashenko because things have improved since he became president (in 1994)," said 42-year-old farmer Alexei in the tiny village of Gubichi in south-eastern Belarus.

He earns around 300 euros a month selling milk.

But, like many in Belarus, he is worried about the war in neighbouring Ukraine.

In 2022, Russian troops entered Ukraine from several directions, including from Belarus. The following year, Russia sent tactical nuclear weapons to the country, which borders NATO countries.

Alexei said he wished "for there not to be a war".

The government's narrative has been to say that Lukashenko guaranteed peace and order in Belarus, accusing 2020 street protest leaders of sewing chaos.

- 'Farce' -

The United Nations estimates that some 300,000 Belarusians have left the country since 2020 -- mostly to Poland and Lithuania -- out of a population of nine million.

They will not be able to cast ballots, with Belarus having scrapped voting abroad.

Exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya denounced the vote as a "farce" in a January interview with AFP.

Her husband Sergei Tikhanovsky has been held incommunicado for almost a year.

She urged dissidents to prepare for an opportunity to change their country but conceded "it was not the moment".

In the run-up to the election, the Lukashenko administration pardoned around 200 political prisoners.

But former prisoners AFP spoke to say those released are under the close watch of security services and are unable to lead a normal life.

Nobel Prize winner Ales Bialiatski is among those in prison in Belarus.

- Reliant on Russia -

While Lukashenko once carefully balanced his relations between the European Union and Moscow, since 2020 he has become politically and economically reliant on Russia.

Kaja Kallas, the EU's top diplomat, called the election a "sham" in a posting on X Saturday and said "Lukashenko doesn't have any legitimacy".

Known as "Europe's last dictator" -- a nickname he embraces -- Lukashenko's Belarus has retained much of the Soviet Union's traditions and infrastructure.

Unlike in Russia, the KGB security agency has kept its haunting name and Belarus still applies the death penalty.

The country's economy is largely state-planned and Lukashenko scrapped Belarus's white-red-white flag in the 1990s -- which has since become the symbol of the opposition.

Lukashenko prides himself for having kept the country's Soviet-era industries and agriculture enterprises in state hands.

In his speech on Friday, he spoke about the "pyatiletka" (Five Year Plan) -- an economic term used in the Soviet Union.

A.Nunez--TFWP