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.”
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
The White House declared late Sunday that President Donald Trump has decided against implementing tariffs and certain sanctions on Colombia following their agreement to accept deported migrants from the US on US military aircraft.
China’s new artificial intelligence (AI) model, DeepSeek, spooked investors Monday, sparking a $1 trillion withdrawal from stocks in the United States and Europe.
Seven Sudanese Christian youths were arrested and tortured by intelligence agents of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) in the country’s River Nile state on Jan. 14, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. Wracked by a civil war launched between the SAF and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF),
A prominent Christian human rights activist who fled his home in Pakistan after facing death for alleged blasphemy against Islam has expressed outrage about the killing of two Christian women and the conviction of four people on blasphemy charges over the weekend.
In a series of bold moves, President Trump has shown his strong support for Israel in the early days of his administration, working to strengthen U.S.-Israel relations and enhance Israel’s security and sovereignty through a series of executive orders and the releasing of military aid to the Jewish state.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump still believes the U.S. would take control of Greenland, despite a “horrendous” call with Denmark’s prime minister and demands by Russia to split the world’s largest island.
Republican senators riding high on President Donald Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown are continuing to push forward on other border security measures, with two lawmakers introducing separate bills to fund and finish the southern border wall.