CEC of Belarus Named Lukashenko Winner of Presidential Election

During the August 9 presidential elections in Belarus, the incumbent head of state Alexander Lukashenko is gaining 80 percent of the vote, his main rival, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is about 10 percent. The preliminary results of the elections announced this morning the head of the Central Election Commission of Belarus, Lidziya Yarmoshyna. The turnout in the elections was over 84 percent. 6% of Belarusian voters voted against all candidates. As the head of the CEC of Belarus noted during the press conference, the preliminary election results announced today are unlikely to change. Yesterday, the official exit poll announced e Lukashenko’s victory with a score of 79.7 percent, while Tsikhanouskaya 's, according to his data, was about 7 percent. The CEC also claimed that more than 80 percent of voters voted for Lukashenko in closed polling stations. The opposition organized an alternative vote count, which showed exactly the opposite result where more than 80 percent voted for Tsikhanouskaya. Telegram channels and Twitter published photos of protocols from polling stations in different cities, which testify to the advantage of Tsikhanouskaya in these polling stations. Tsikhanouskaya 's headquarters named at least 20 polling stations in different districts of Minsk, where, according to official protocols, their candidate won far ahead. After polling stations in Minsk and other cities of Belarus got closed, spontaneous protests began. Their participants believe that the exit poll results - and the first preliminary results of the CEC of Belarus - are falsified. To disperse the demonstrators, police used water cannons, rubber bullets and other special equipment. Human rights activists report one death as a result of van hitting the crowd. According to the Viasna human rights center, at least 140 protesters were detained. The Investigative Committee of Belarus has opened a criminal case on riots and violence against the police.