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"Controversial Election"? Now that's an understatement if I've ever seen one... I don't think elections in Belarus have ever been seen to be free and fair.

• zzz61831 6y ago
  They were not, but since the polls were banned during elections the government at least had some deniability and fewer people were convinced it was all fake. But this time massive protests and polls and information online convinced everyone there is no real support left. Hence the shutdown of the internet.
• Nginx487 6y ago
  So-called "elections" after 5th-6th term are a bad joke. Face it, ex-Soviet republics Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan never seazed to be totalitarian regimes with pathetic tries to convince the world they adopted some democracy.
  • foepys 6y ago
    I don't think it's impossible for elected officials to be liked for 5 or 6 terms. In Germany Merkel is so well liked that most people (>70% according to polls) are actually sad that she doesn't want to run for a 5th term.
    • dgellow 6y ago
      I think it’s worth pointing out that a German chancellor has very limited power when compared to the Belorussian president.
    • Nginx487 6y ago
      I don't think Merkel put political opponents behind bars like Belarusian president (de-facto allowed to be lifetime in the office), or assassinate, like his Russian colleague (lifetime in the office as welll).
• PeterisP 6y ago
  As far as I understand, the 1994 election in which Lukashenko initially came to power was considered fair and representative of the people's will. The rest, not so much, however even if we directly compare with previous Belarus elections, this time the election rigging went further than before, turning it into a farce that's not taken well by the public this time.