No credible opponents were allowed to run against Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus since the 1990s.

Belarusians are voting in a closely-managed presidential election that is all but certain to extend the one-man rule of Alexander Lukashenko, in power since 1994 and Europe’s longest-serving leader.

MINSK (Reuters) -Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said on Sunday that some of his political opponents had "chosen" to go to prison as he cast his vote in a election that was set to extend his 31-year rule.

In a presidential election dismissed as a farce and an affront to democracy, strongman Alexander Lukashenko has secured a seventh term in power to extend his 30 years of rule over Belarus. State media reported that 70-year-old Lukashenko,

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.

MINSK (Reuters) -Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko was on track to extend his 31-year rule with 87.6% of the vote in a presidential election on Sunday, according to an exit poll broadcast on state TV,