Chairman of the Central Election Commission of Belarus Lidia Yermoshina reported on December 20 that the inauguration of Alexander Lukashenko, re-elected for a fourth term, would be held by February 19. This is provided by the Constitution of Belarus — the inauguration should take place within two months from the date of the election.
However, Lidia Yermoshina stressed that President Alexander Lukashenko had already got the title of president-elect, IA «REGNUM-Belarus» reports.
According to Telegraf, the Belarusian CEC recognized the presidential elections as legitimately held. Lidia Yermoshina announced preliminary results of voting in the presidential elections early in the morning on December 20. According to the CEC, Alexander Lukashenko won the elections, as more than 5.1 million people (79.67%) had voted for re-election of the incumbent president for a fourth time.
At the same time, opposition doesn’t agree on the election results. Alternative presidential candidates declared about the fraud of the election results and held a protest at the Government House after the closing of polling stations. Many of the protesters were detained during the night of December 20, including seven former presidential candidates — Rygor Kastusiou, Ales Michalevic, Vladimir Niakliaeu, Vital Rymasheuski, Andrei Sannikov, Nikolai Statkevich and Dmitri Uss.
