Belarus' authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko extended his more than three decades in power in Sunday’s orchestrated election that the opposition and the European Union rejected as a sham. The Central Election Commission declared Lukashenko the winner in the early hours of Monday and reaffirmed it later in the morning,

Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled the ex-Soviet state for 31 years, held a four-hour press conference musing that some of his opponents "chose prison", after winning 88 per cent of the vote.

There was no joint statement by the European Union countries on the presidential elections in Belarus because of Hungary's position. This was reported today, January 27, by the European media.