President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus assumes his sixth term of office during an inauguration ceremony that officials did not announce in advance after weeks of mass protests against the authoritarian leader’s reelection, which opposition activists maintain was rigged.
State news agency Belta reports that the swearing-in ceremony took place in the capital of Minsk with several hundred top government officials, lawmakers, representatives of media organizations and other prominent figures present.
Lukashenko, 66, takes an oath in Belarusian with his right hand on the country’s Constitution, and the head of the country’s central election commission handed him the official ID card of the president of Belarus.
“The day of assuming the post of the president is the day of our victory, convincing and fateful,” Lukashenko says at the ceremony. “We were not just electing the president of the country — we were defending our values, our peaceful life, sovereignty and independence.”
Oppenents in Belarus, including the candidate who placed a distant second in the country’s August 9 presidential election, and representatives of European governments said the absence of public involvement in the inauguration only proved that the authoritarian Lukashenko lacked a valid mandate to continue leading.
— AP
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