August 10
Sunday, August 9, was election day in Belarus. The official result: 80.8 percent for the incumbent, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, and 10.09 percent for his main challenger, Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Six percent of eligible Belarusians voted against all candidates (there is such an option), so the remaining three presidential hopefuls garnered only minuscule support. The turnout apparently exceeded 84 percent (Onliner.by, August 10). It may seem that Mr. Lukashenka, who ran for his sixth term, could paraphrase Mark Twain: “The reports of my defeat were greatly exaggerated.”