Belarus’ CEC announces preliminary ‘election’ results: Lukashenko receives nearly 87%

This was reported by the state Belarusian agency BELTA, as cited by Ukrinform.

According to CEC Chairman Igor Karpenko, preliminary data shows that 86.82% of voters cast their ballots for Alexander Lukashenko.

Sergey Sirankov took second place with 3.21%, while eg Gaydukevich came in third with 2.02%.

Meanwhile, 3.60% of citizens who participated in the election voted against all candidates.

The final press conference of the Belarusian CEC, dedicated to the preliminary results of the "presidential election", will be held later today, January 27.

Read also: France says presidential election in Belarus “deprived of any legitimacy”

As reported by Ukrinform, Belarus held voting for the presidential "election" on January 26.

Alexander Lukashenko has been in power since 1994. During his rule, he has suppressed multiple waves of protests against his regime, including massive demonstrations against election fraud flowing the 2020 vote. At that time, tens of thousands of Belarusians took to the streets, but the authorities responded with mass arrests, resulting in lengthy prison sentences for ponents, journalists, and activists.