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.
But the authoritarian Lukashenko received praise from his closest ally, Vladimir Putin, who on Monday congratulated him on a “confident victory.” Congratulations also followed from China, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Vietnam.
Public reaction within Belarus to the election results was muted — in sharp contrast to 2020, when tens of thousands took to the streets in protest against Lukashenko’s rule after the Central Election Commission declared him the winner with 80.01% of the vote, while opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was credited with only 10.12%.
Opposition figures and international observers pointed to massive vote-rigging and manipulation in the 2020 vote, with the European Union, United States, and the United Kingdom refusing to recognize the results. Multiple reports from within Belarusian polling stations — and from the poll workers themselves — detailed the extent of electoral fraud, while independent platforms Voice, Zubr, and Honest People presenting a detailed report challenging the officially declared figures. Multiple prominent opponents that tried to run against Lukashenko — including Tsikhanouskaya’s husband Siarhei, a popular Youtube blogger, and banker Viktar Babaryka — were imprisoned prior to the election.
Siarhei’s imprisonment led to his wife running in his place, while the imprisonment of Babaryka ultimately led to the opposition forming a triple alliance and fielding Tsikhanouskaya as a mutual candidate. Activist Maria Kalesnikava, a high-ranking member of the opposition’s Coordination Council and the former head of Babaryka’s campaign, was sentenced to 11 years in prison months after the vote.
Since 2020, Belarus has seen a significant rise in political repression. Thousands of protesters, opposition figures, and journalists have been thrown behind bars, with human rights group Viasna estimating that Belarus currently holds over 1,600 political prisoners. The international community — including the EU and U.S. — have imposed sanctions on Lukashenko’s regime, demanding the release of political detainees and a return to free and fair elections.
Tsikhanouskaya, now in exile, noted on X that Lukashenko’s 87% official result was oddly similar to Vladimir Putin’s 88% in last year’s Russian presidential election: “Like Putin last year, Lukashenka gave himself around 87 percent of the 'vote' – what a coincidence! Maybe dictators have a secret rulebook? The result of this sham was as predictable as the dictator’s rambling press briefing, given even before the votes were officially 'counted'.”
She protested the election on Sunday from the Polish capital Warsaw. “Today, we marched for freedom in Warsaw — united and unshaken, honoring our heroes who gave their lives for freedom,” she posted on X, alongside images from the demonstrations. “Together, we are unstoppable,” she said. “As Belarusians, we will never lose hope. We will reclaim our country and return home stronger than ever.”