The Fort Worth Press - Lukashenko set to extend three-decade rule in Belarus

Lukashenko --a 70-year-old former collective farm boss -- has been in power in reclusive, Moscow-allied Belarus since 1994.

Candidates picked to run against Lukashenko had campaigned in favour of him.

The Moscow ally said he did not care if the EU recognised the vote or not, and said he had "no regrets" over letting his "older brother" Vladimir Putin invade Ukraine through Belarus in 2022 -- despite hundreds of thousands of deaths in the three-year war.

Lukashenko has presided over a massive crackdown after suppressing giant protests following his contested reelection in 2020.

He said Sunday that his opponents had "chosen" prison or exile.

"If it is prison then it's those who opened their mouths too widely," Lukashenko said.

In a press conference that lasted four hours and 25 minutes, he said repenting and asking for pardon are preconditions for any prisoner releases, saying his security services were "watching" those who took part in the protests and are free.

The Viasna rights group says Belarus currently has 1,245 political prisoners.

"Some chose prison, some exile. We never kicked anyone out," Lukashenko said.

Tens of thousands fled Belarus in 2020 and 2021, mostly to Poland and Lithuania, as the KGB security service launched the massive crackdown.

At a rally in Warsaw by Belarus exiles, opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya described Lukashenko as a "criminal who has seized power", denouncing the vote as a "farce."

- 'Show to the people' -

Lukashenko accused imprisoned opposition activist Maria Kolesnikova -- who is held in isolation in a prison in Gomel -- of "breaking" prison rules.

He said he had given the order for Kolesnikova to be "shown to the people" last November -- when photos of her were released in a first sign of life after she had been held incommunicado for over a year.

"She is fine," he said, saying that.

Lukashenko dismissed the rally in Warsaw as insignificant.

- Belarusians value 'peace' -

Most people in the landlocked country have only distant memories of life before Lukashenko, who was 39 when he won the first national election after Belarus gained independence from the Soviet Union.

Criticism of the strongman is banned. Most people AFP spoke to in Minsk and other towns voiced support for him.

In Minsk, 74-year-old pensioner Nadezhda Guzhalovskaya said she voted for Lukashenko due to a lack of other options.

"Maybe everything here is not perfect, we don't have democracy," admitted Guzhalovskaya.

But Irina Lebedeva said that "thanks to our president there is peace in this country," repeating the government's narrative, which also accuses the 2020 street protest leaders of sowing chaos.

- Reliant on Russia -

The United Nations estimates that some 300,000 Belarusians have left the country since 2020 out of a population of nine million.

They will not be able to cast ballots, with Belarus having scrapped voting abroad.

In the run-up to the election, the Lukashenko administration pardoned around 200 political prisoners.

But former prisoners AFP spoke to say those released are under the close watch of security services and are unable to lead a normal life.

Nobel Prize winner Ales Bialiatski is among those in prison in Belarus.

While Lukashenko once carefully balanced his relations between the European Union and Moscow, since 2020 he has become politically and economically reliant on Russia.

Kaja Kallas, the EU's top diplomat, called the election a "sham" in a posting on X on Saturday and said "Lukashenko doesn't have any legitimacy".

Known as "Europe's last dictator" -- a nickname he embraces -- Lukashenko's Belarus has retained much of the Soviet Union's traditions and infrastructure.

At his press conference on Sunday, he dismissed rumours that he was planning to hand over to one of his three sons.

He said his youngest son Nikolai "could not imagine in his worst dream" that he could be president and "none of my sons could".

S.Palmer--TFWP