Berlin, August 16 – The German government has strongly criticized the outcome of the presidential election in Belarus. “It was not a genuine election, the people of Belarus did not have a real choice, because serious candidates were not allowed”said Wolfgang Büchner, the government’s deputy spokesperson, in response to a query from the German news agency.
As in 2020, no international election observers were present, as the invitation had been issued too late, the government believes. Therefore, the German government does not consider President Lukashenko as democratically legitimized.
Following the last election in 2020, the EU imposed sanctions on Belarus due to similar criticism. However, it seems that a repeat of this measure is not as straightforward this time. Sanctions need to be unanimously agreed upon, the Foreign Ministry stated. It is no secret that there is no consensus in the EU on how to deal with Belarus.
According to the preliminary results of the Central Election Commission, incumbent President Lukashenko is said to have received around 87 percent of the votes in the election on Sunday. The four other candidates received results in the single-digit range. Lukashenko has been in power since 1994 and is now set to begin his seventh term in office.