National and local parliamentary elections were held in Belarus, an allied state with Russia, on the 25th.
President Lukashenko, who himself came to vote, mentioned the presidential election scheduled for next year and announced his intention to run for a seventh term.
In the former Soviet Union of Belarus, national and local parliamentary elections were held simultaneously on the 25th.
Elections for the lower house of parliament will be contested only by political parties that support the government, including the largest party, Belaya Rus', and President Lukashenko is poised to further solidify his political base through the elections.
President Lukashenko, who came to vote in the parliamentary elections, told reporters, ``No country has elections as open and fair as Belarus.''
He then touched on the presidential election scheduled for next year and announced his intention to run for a seventh term.
Mr. Lukashenko has served as president for 30 years since winning his first election in 1994 in the first presidential election held after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The presidential election held four years ago led to large-scale protests as citizens complained of fraud, and the Lukashenko regime conducted a thorough crackdown.
Anti-government activist Tikhanovskaya called for a boycott of the parliamentary elections, calling them a ``political farce.''
President Lukashenko is deepening his cooperation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is advancing the invasion of Ukraine, including claiming in December last year that Russian tactical nuclear weapons were deployed in Belarus.