Authoritarian leader of Belarus sworn for seventh term

Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko has been sworn in for a seventh term, and he mocked those who derided him as “Europe’s last dictator” by saying his country has more democracy “than those who cast themselves as its models”.

“Half of the world is dreaming about our ‘dictatorship’, the dictatorship of real business and interests of our people,” Mr Lukashenko, 70, said in his inauguration speech at the Independence Palace in the capital of Minsk.

Hundreds of opposition supporters living abroad held anti-Lukashenko rallies on Tuesday to mark the anniversary of Belarus’ short-lived independence in 1918 following the collapse of the Russian Empire.

The Belarus Central Election Commission declared he won with nearly 87% of the vote after a campaign in which four token challengers on the ballot all praised his rule.

Opposition members have been imprisoned or exiled abroad by Mr Lukashenko’s unrelenting crackdown on dissent and free speech.

Months of massive protests that were unprecedented in the history of the country of nine million people followed the 2020 election and brought on the harsh crackdown.

More than 65,000 people were arrested, thousands were beaten by police and independent media outlets and non-governmental organisations were closed and outlawed, bringing condemnation and sanctions from the West.

Thousands of Lukashenko supporters attended Tuesday’s inauguration ceremony, where he denounced his critics as foreign stooges who were at odds with the people.

“You don’t and won’t have public support, you have no future,” he declared. “We have more democracy than those who cast themselves as its models.”

Belarusian activists say it holds more than 1,200 political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, founder of the Viasna Human Rights Centre.

“The election was held amid a deep human rights crisis, in the atmosphere of total fear caused by repressions against civil society, independent media, opposition and dissent,” according to a statement released Tuesday by Viasna and 10 other Belarusian human rights groups.

They said Mr Lukashenko’s hold on power is illegitimate.

Mr Lukashenko has ruled the country with an iron fist since 1994, relying on subsidies and political support from Russian President Vladimir Putin, himself in office for a quarter of a century, an alliance that helped the Belarusian leader survive the 2020 protests.

Mr Lukashenko allowed Moscow to use the country’s territory to invade Ukraine in February 2022 and later hosted some of Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons.

Opposition leader-in-exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who fled Belarus under government pressure after running against Mr Lukashenko in 2020, vowed to keep fighting for the country’s freedom.