MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Belarusian parliament said on Friday presidential elections would be held on Aug. 9, the news agency Belta reported, with the incumbent Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled the country since 1994, widely expected to win a sixth term in office.
Lukashenko won 83.5% of the vote in during the last election, in 2015, according to Belarus’ electoral commission. His closest rival, Tatiana Korotkevich, got just 4.4% of the vote.
Part of Belarus’ fractured opposition has announced that it intends to unite and put forward a single candidate to participate in the August election.
Western countries have not recognised any of Belarus’ election campaigns as meeting international standards since 1996.
Reporting by Andrei Makhovsky, writing by Alexander Marrow, editing by Larry King
