Long-serving Belarusian President, Alexander Lukashenko, won a sixth term with 80.23 per cent of the vote, according to a preliminary count from the presidential election, Belta state news agency reported.
The central electoral commission reported that the strongman’s main challenger Svetlana Tikhanovskaya won 9.9 per cent in Sunday’s vote, which Lukashenko’s opponents say was rigged.
Protesters and riot police had earlier clashed in Belarus’s capital Minsk and other cities, after a state TV exit poll said Alexander Lukashenko was re-elected.
Police used stun grenades, rubber bullets and water cannon. A human rights group said one protester was killed and about 120 arrested.
Mr Lukashenko won 80% of the vote, according to a preliminary count.
But the main opposition leader says she does not trust the official figures.
“I believe my eyes, and I see that the majority is with us,” Svetlana Tikhanovskaya told reporters late on Sunday.
65-year-old Lukashenko has served as President of Belarus since the establishment of the office on 20 July 1994.
