Belarus' opposition activists and Western officials on Monday denounced an orchestrated election that extends the more than three-decade rule of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. The country's exiled opposition leader called the result “sheer nonsense.

Belarusian leader and Russian ally Alexander Lukashenko extended his 31-year rule on Monday after electoral officials declared him the winner of a presidential election that Western governments rejected as a sham.

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Belarus held an orchestrated vote virtually guaranteed to give 70-year-old autocratic President Alexander Lukashenko yet another term on top of his three decades in power. “Today’s sham election in Belarus has been neither free,

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, said that the elections in Belarus were illegitimate due to falsifications, repressions, and restrictions on citizens' rights.