An exit poll published by the Belarusian state media puts strongman Alexander Lukashenko at nearly 80% of the vote in the presidential election. His rival Svetlana Tikhanovskaya rejected the poll amid rising tensions.
Polling came to an end on Sunday as Belarusians cast their vote in the country's presidential elections, with President Alexander Lukashenko pitted against unlikely candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.
Lukashenko won Sunday's election with 79.7% of the vote, according to an official exit poll.
Main opposition challenger Tikhanovskaya came second with 6.8%, according to the poll. However, Tikhanovskaya rejected the numbers.
"I believe my eyes, and I see that the majority is with us," she said.
In Belarus, security forces allegedly started detaining people who were still lining up to cast their ballots. Parts of the city center and the subway system were reportedly closed off by the police. Eyewitnesses spoke of groups of protesters being broken up by the security forces.
Lukashenko: Things 'would not go out of hand'
Police set up checkpoints outside the capital to quash potential protests at the election outcome and the detention of at least eight opposition campaign workers. After casting his ballot on Sunday, Lukashenko promised that "situation would not go out of hand." Problems with accessing websites in Belarus have been reported throughout the day.
The opposition have called for protests at 10 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) according to Russian media. Belarusian nationals who attempted to vote in the country's diplomatic offices in Russia, but were turned away due to polls closing, are reportedly already protesting.
Official preliminary results are expected on Monday.
Poll majority no great shock
DW's Moscow correspondent Emily Sherwin said the official poll result was not a surprise given past result and that there had been widespread reports of violations at the ballot box.
"Even before the elections, Lukashenko himself had said that he wouldn't be giving up power," Sherwin said.
However, she said the low support reflected for Svetlana Tikhanovskaya in the poll had not been expected.
"It does seem surprising if you look at the unprecedented amount of support that we've been seeing for Svetlana Tikhanovskaya even out on the streets. It's very rare for people to protest in Belarus at all. Usually protesters immediately get arrested and we've been seeing up to 60,000 people gathering in support of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya so in a sense that really doesn't add up with the numbers that we've now seen in this exit poll."
DW's correspondent from Belarus, Alexander Burakov, was detained ahead of the vote.
'No people would stand for that'
Opposition politician and one-time Lukashenko rival Andrei Sannikov disputed the official poll, telling the Russian Dozd TV channel that the Belarusian president "lost with a bang."
He said that Lukashenko's handling of the pandemic was "the last straw" for the voters.
"Not only did he deny the existence of the coronavirus, he knowingly sent people to be infected, he knowingly organized a military parade," Sannikov said, referring to the event marking anniversary of the Soviet victory against Nazi Germany in July.
According to Sannikov, who ran against Lukashenko in 2010, the strongman leader also banned the closure of schools and "insulted people who died of COVID-19."
"He called them fat, he used derogatory terms, said it's their own fault and so on," the opposition activist said. "No people would stand for that."
Russian observer says vote 'legal'
Voting was not observed by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) as the group did not receive a timely invitation.
Russian lawmaker Sergey Kryuchek, one of observers sent by the Russian parliament, reported no major violations.
He described the vote as "legal and self-sufficient" in the comments carried by the Russian Interfax news agency.
When asked about her message to the losing candidates on Sunday, Central Election Commission chief Lidia Yermoshina said the most important thing is to "know how to accept defeat."
"That is to make peace with it, accept it, to congratulate," she said. "Not to create concerns for the crowd which has supported them and which may, if the candidate incites them, take to the streets."
Voting amid crackdown
Tikhanovskaya, a stay-at-home mother and former teacher, was tapped to run for the opposition after authorities began a crackdown on opposition figures, including her husband. Lukashenko's main rival, Viktor Babariko, was jailed over fraud and embezzlement charges and subsequently banned from standing in the election.
Voters in face masks were seen arriving at a Minsk polling station, with some wearing white bracelets after Tikhanovskaya asked her supporters to wear them.
Prominent opposition figure Valery Tsepkalo was also barred from running and fled to Russia over fears of being arrested and stripped of parental rights.
A 30-year-old make-up artist from Minsk said she had wanted to vote for Babaryko, and accused Lukashenko of clinging to power.
"No one I know will vote for Lukashenko," she told AFP.
Belarusian authorities have detained more than 1,000 protesters since election campaigning began in May, according to the human rights group Viasna. Journalists in Belarus have also been detained in the lead-up to the election.
Lukashenko (left) is seen as a close ally to Russia's Vladimir Putin (right)
Europe's 'last dictator'
Lukashenko, Europe's longest-serving leader, is almost certain to win a sixth consecutive term amid an absence of international observers — but analysts say the strongman could face a new wave of protests over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the economy, and his human rights record.
Ahead of the vote, Lukashenko warned that dissent would not be tolerated and that he would not give up his "beloved" Belarus.
"We will not give the country to you," Lukashenko said of his opponents, as he addressed the nation earlier this week.
Lukashenko, 65, is a former Soviet collective farm manager who has ruled since 1994.
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya hopes to end Lukashenko's decades-long reign in Belarus
An unlikely candidate
Tikhanovskaya, who ran in place of her jailed husband, YouTube blogger Sergei Tikhanovsky, posed Lukashenko's greatest challenge yet.
Tikhanovskaya's rallies drew some of the largest crowds since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Her presidential bid has given rise to an informal new protest movement, with many in the ex-Soviet country calling for Lukashenko to quit.
The 37-year-old, from a small southwestern town, has said she has no interest in politics. She has campaigned to remove Lukashenko, free political prisoners — including her husband — and reduce the country's reliance on Russia.
Tikhanovskaya has promised to step down within six months to hold a new and free presidential vote, which would allow banned opposition candidates to run for Belarus' top post.
mvb,dj/stb (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters, Interfax)
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