Lukashenko wins sham “election” in Belarus with an official 87.6 percent of vote

Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko votes at a polling station in Minsk, Belarus, on Jan. 26, 2025. Source: EPA-EFE

The Belarusian Central Election Commission announced preliminary results for the presidential election early on Jan. 27, claiming that Alexander Lukashenko had secured a sweeping victory with 87.6% of the vote.

According to the commission, the remaining four candidates collectively garnered just under 9%. Even before the results were released, two of the nominal contenders, Sergei Gaidukevich and Oleg Syrankov, publicly conceded, with Gaidukevich saying, “You don’t need to be Nostradamus to predict that the incumbent president would win.”

The “against all” option ranked second after Lukashenko, receiving 3.6% of the vote. Voter turnout was reported at 85.7%, according to the commission. Final results are expected to be announced on Feb. 3.

This marks the seventh presidential election for the 70-year-old Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus since 1994. With this latest claimed victory — his seventh — Lukashenko is poised to remain in power until at least 2030.

“Lukashenko has clung to power for 30 years. Tomorrow, he’ll reappoint himself in yet another sham election,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas posted on X on the eve of the vote. “This is a blatant affront to democracy. Lukashenko doesn’t have any legitimacy.”

“Whether you in the European Union recognize these elections or not is a matter of taste. Believe me, I swear, I couldn’t care less whether you acknowledge our elections or not,” Lukashenko retorted at an election-day press conference.

“The regime's decision to invite the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe / Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights only 10 days before the elections, prevented this independent body from access to key stages of the election process. This is yet another proof of a total absence of credibility of these elections,” Kallas and EU Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos followed up in a statement. “Today's sham election in Belarus has been neither free, nor fair. The relentless and unprecedented repression of human rights, restrictions to political participation and access to independent media in Belarus, have deprived the electoral process of any legitimacy,” they added.

12 countries — including the United States, France, Poland, Ukraine, Germany, and Norway — have officially rejected the results of the election.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock described the election as a “bitter day for all who yearn for freedom and democracy.”

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski responded with sarcasm, noting that “only” 87.6% of voters were reported to have supported Lukashenko. “Will the rest fit in the prisons?” he wrote on X, referring to Lukashenko’s oppressive rule, which has seen thousands of his political opponents jailed.