MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Sunday, Belarus held presidential elections. Incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko won 83.5 percent of the popular vote, which means he is to serve his fifth consecutive presidential term.
"The United States welcomes the peaceful conduct of the October 11 presidential election in Belarus. However, we are disappointed that the elections fell significantly short of Belarus’ international obligations and commitments…. as demonstrated by reports from the OSCE ODIHR and Parliamentary Assembly election observation missions," Mark Toner said in a statement.
According to Toner, reports noted serious problems with the counting and tabulation of votes.
Following the Belarus elections, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said that the process was not absolutely democratic, and urged Belarus to make significant steps to ensure Minsk is able to meet the OSCE democratic commitments.
Meanwhile, as the polls were closed, Head of Russian Central Election Commission Vladimir Churov said he was generally satisfied with the presidential election process.
Earlier in the day, head of the CIS Executive Committee Sergei Lebedev said that the elections in Belarus were held in accordance with the laws of the country and general democratic principles, as well as were transparent.
