President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, a close ally of Russia’s leader, Vladimir V. Putin, has been making signs of reaching out to the West. He is all but certain to win an election on Sunday.

Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power for 31 years, is set for a new five-year term in an election that an exiled opposition leader describes as "a farce".

Belarusians go to the polls this weekend to vote in a presidential election that is almost certain to see incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko returned to office for a seventh term. The country was rocked by the largest mass protests since independence in the massively falsified previous elections in August 2020,

The outcome of the 2025 presidential election is not in doubt. Alexander Lukashenko, once dubbed "Europe's last dictator," who has ruled Belarus with an iron fist for more than 30 years, will be declared the winner and secure a seventh term in office.

Over the past 30 years, not a single election campaign in Belarus has been held in peace and quiet. Since 1994, when presidential elections were organized for the first time in the republic, the country has been plunged into a situation of social and political tension every