Lukashenko’s loyalists win all parliament seats in Belarus as opposition secures no seat at all

Candidates loyal to Belarus’s pro-West President Alexander Lukashenko have won a landslide in the ex-Soviet country’s parliamentary elections, in which opposition contenders secured no seat at all.

Results released by the Central Election Commission (CEC) on Monday showed parties loyal to Lukashenko won all 110 seats in the House of Representatives, the lower house of Belarus’s parliament.

According to the CEC, more than 35 percent of the 6.8 million electorate voted ahead of polling day. Turnout reached 77 percent, according to the results.

Lukashenko, 65, has been the president of Belarus since 1994 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. He is widely known as “Europe’s last dictator.”

Pairing up with West

In recent months, Lukashenko has been working to ameliorate relations with the West amid tensions with neighboring Russia.

Earlier this month, Lukashenko made a rare visit to Western Europe and met there with Austrian leaders in Vienna.

During the visit, he said he wanted Belarus to be “an important political and business partner” for the European Union.

In August, he had announced that he wanted to open a “new chapter” in relation with Washington as he hosted the then White House national security advisor, John Bolton, in the Belarusian capital city, Minsk.  

In September, Washington and Minsk said they would resume diplomatic relations at ambassadorial level after more than a decade.

Media sources said Washington had also informed Minsk that it was considering to further scale back sanctions slapped on Belarus.

EU ends sanctions against Belarus president, individuals

EU ends sanctions on Belarus, citing improvement in human rights situation.

The United States and the European Union had imposed sanctions on Belarus in 2016 over what they regarded as Minsk’s harsh treatment of political opponents.

Sullied relations with Russia

Lukashenko threatened on Sunday that Belarus would avoid inking an integration deal with its traditional ally Russia next month if Moscow failed to resolve their row over energy subsidies.

Moscow has been providing Minsk with loans and subsidies to maintain political stability in the neighboring country, but now plans to phase these out to lessen the burden on its economy.

The plan has strained ties with between the two sides at a time when Lukashenko has been seeking to improve relations with the Western states.

The two countries are slated to sign a roadmap in December to bring their economies closer together.

“If our fundamental issues are not resolved: on the supply of hydrocarbons, on the opening of markets, no roadmaps can be signed,” Lukashenko told reporters on the same day as Belarus held parliamentary elections.

Bilateral Belarus-Russia first began to deteriorate after Minsk refused to recognize Crimea’s decision in a 2014 referendum for separation from Ukraine and reunification with the Russian Federation.

Lukashenko accuses Russia of trying to strong-arm his small country to fully merge with its big neighbor. He also says Moscow is falling into “hysterics” over his efforts to pair up with the West.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk