Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko was on course for another landslide election victory on Sunday while struggling to contain street protests that pose the biggest challenge in years to the man who has ruled for a quarter of a century.
The 65-year-old Lukashenko has battled a wave of anger over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, the economy and his human rights record.
State-approved exit polls showed Lukashenko winning 79.7% of the vote while his main opponent Svetlana Tikhanouskaya, a former English teacher who emerged from obscurity a few weeks ago to lead rallies against him, received 6.8%.