Truth Vibrations
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Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has won re-election with 79% of the vote, state media said Monday -- citing preliminary voting results.
The country's Central Election Commission told the state-run Belarusian Telegraph Agency (BelTA) that the voter turnout was 90% and that it had not received any complaints.
However, opposition candidates on Sunday took to the streets in the capital city of Minsk and clashed with police as preliminary results trickled in.
Several hundred protesters were arrested and taken away by riot police, journalist Alexander Lukashuk said.
One demonstration was in support of presidential candidate Vladimir Neklyaev, who was hurt in clashes with riot police, Russian news agency Interfax said.
The election commission said Monday that Neklyaev received 1.77% of the votes.
Another candidate, Nikolai Statkevich, told state-run Russian news agency RIA Novosti that he, too, was beaten. The election commission numbers, cited by BelTA, put the number of votes Statkevich received at 1.04%.
Authorities used stun grenades on the demonstrators as they headed toward the square, Interfax reported. However, several thousand people gathered in the square, chanting "For Belarus!" Some of them waved flags with the symbol of the Christians Democratic Party, led by candidate Vitaly Rymashevsky.
Lukashenko, who has been in office since 1994, was running against nine other candidates, the election commission said.
None garnered more than 2.5% of the votes, BelTA said.
Andrei Sannikov, a former diplomat who wants to see Belarus as a member of the European Union, was one of the main opposition leaders. The two others are Yaroslav Romanchuk and Neklyaev.
Economist Romanchuk, a candidate from the United Civil Party, has been prolific in publicizing his views on economic reforms. Meanwhile, Neklyaev ran a social campaign, "Tell the Truth!" He was arrested for participating in public protests earlier this year and later released.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has repeatedly expressed concerns over the status of civil and political rights in Belarus. Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice once called Lukashenko "the last dictator in Europe.
