May 25, 2021 · Mr Lukashenko was elected as Belarus’s president in 1994, three years after the country declared independence during the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

On August 9, 2020, an unprecedented wave of protests swept across Belarus in the aftermath of a deeply flawed presidential election. The protects soon swelled into a nationwide pro-democracy movement that threatened to topple the regime of Belarus dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

Jul 17, 2024 · LONDON — Alexander Lukashenko is a tyrant: The Belarusian dictator has repressed his people. He has thrown more than 1,400 political opponents in jail. Several senior officials have been driven to suicide or died in unexplained circumstances.

2 days ago · Keeping Belarus out of the war was a major factor for these voters. ... tasked with “ensuring the transition of power from dictatorship to democracy, and promoting fair and free elections”.

Aug 20, 2020 · Belarus’s Aug. 9 presidential election, expected to deliver Lukashenko a sixth consecutive term, has instead brought on an unprecedented political crisis. He claimed he received 80% of the vote....

3 days ago · The acclamation of Alexander Lukashenko as Belarus president for a seventh straight term was confirmed on January 26. The electoral authorities announced that the man known as “Europe’s last dictator” – the only president the country has had since it held its first “democratic” election in 1994 – had won 87% of the vote.. Most western leaders have dismissed the result as a ...

Nov 25, 2021 · With a grey comb-over hairstyle, chevron-shaped moustache and a strong rural accent, Alexander Lukashenko, a former collective farm manager-turned-minor Communist official, was the only...

May 22, 2023 · Massive demonstrations erupted after he stole an election in 2020; his government lashed out by jailing and torturing thousands of dissidents. Now Belarusians wonder whether bad health may be...

In the years following, Belarusian President Aliaksandr Lukashenka liked to play up the idea of being the ‘last dictator’; in a 2012 interview he proclaimed ‘I am the last and only dictator in Europe. Indeed there are none anywhere else in the world … You came here and looked at a living dictator. Where else would you see one?

Jan 26, 2025 · Europe’s longest-serving leader won re-election in a contest widely believe to have been rigged. The result cements the power of a leader whose country is considered Russia’s staunchest ally.