Final votes are still being counted, and the result isn't expected to be released until later on Monday, but state television predicted Lukashenko would win with almost 88% of the vote. View on eurone

Belarus held an orchestrated election over the weekend that the opposition and the EU rejected as a farce, extending President Lukashenko's more than 30 years in power.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko extended his rule in a controversial election rejected by the opposition and the EU as illegitimate. The election came amidst a harsh crackdown on dissent and amid ongoing international scrutiny.

Belarusian leader and Russian ally Alexander Lukashenko extended his 31-year rule on Monday after electoral officials declared him the winner of a presidential election Western governments rejected as a sham.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union rejected the election in Belarus on Sunday as illegitimate and threatened new sanctions. Belarus held an orchestrated vote virtually guaranteed to give 70-year-old autocratic President Alexander Lukashenko yet another term on top of his three decades in power.

The EU's top diplomat said Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, who is certain to win a seventh presidential term in Sunday's election after barring most opponents, "doesn't have any legitimacy".

Alexander Lukashenko was declared the landslide winner of presidential elections in Belarus. His victory was seen as a foregone conclusion in a country he's run for more than 30 years.

As an East African bloc urged an immediate ceasefire in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwandan-backed M23 rebels who seized the city of Goma extended their advance on Wednesday, and Congo said it planned a campaign to recover lost territory.

STORY: Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko extended his 31-year rule with a massive election win.The country held a presidential election on Sunday.According to results published on the Central Election Commission's Telegram account,

Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko pardoned 15 prisoners as a gesture before an election expected to extend his long rule. Critics call the election a sham with key opposition jailed. Lukashenko faces no serious challengers and aims to improve ties with the West amid heavy sanctions.

Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled the ex-Soviet state for 31 years, held a four-hour press conference musing that some of his opponents "chose prison", after winning 88 per cent of the vote.

Brussels has threatened Belarus with a fresh raft of sanctions after President Alexander Lukashenko ... or the threatened EU sanctions will make much of a difference to Lukashenko.