Ruslan Smashnev

In the presidential election held in Belarus on January 26, 2025, incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko secured his seventh term with over 87% of the vote. The election was widely criticized by international observers and opposition figures, who labeled it a sham due to the lack of genuine competition and suppression of dissent. The EPDE has exposed how over 90 politically biased “observers” who were deployed to whitewash this fraudulent election. The Lukashenka regime, notorious for systematic human rights abuses and repression of civil society, manufactured international legitimacy by inviting hand-picked “observers”—many with direct ties to authoritarian regimes, Kremlin-linked disinformation networks, or criminal investigations in their home countries.