Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian sent a congratulatory message to Belarus President Alyaksandr Lukashenka on his re-election in a ballot the results of which are disputed by his opposition challenger.
“I am confident that through joint efforts we will continue to strengthen the friendship between our peoples, to expand mutually beneficial cooperation between our countries both bilaterally and within the framework of international organizations and integration associations. On my part I am ready to make every effort to fully realize the potential of relations between our peoples and countries,” Pashinian said in his message as quoted by his press office.
Armenian President Armen Sarkissian also congratulated Lukashenka, wishing him “good health, success and all the best” and “the friendly people of Belarus – peace, stability and prosperity.”
Belarus’s Central Election Commission said preliminary official results from the August 9 presidential election show incumbent President Lukashenka winning a landslide victory with more than 80 percent of the vote, compared to less than 10 percent for his main rival, Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya.
Tsikhanouskaya, who drew tens of thousands of people to her campaign rallies, refused to recognize the preliminary official results announced on Monday.
The ballot in Belarus was followed by a night of violent clashes between police and thousands of protesters who say exit polls and official results from the election commission were rigged.
A human rights group in Minsk said that one protester was killed in the clashes, but Belarus’s Interior Ministry denied that.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on August 10 condemned the violence in Belarus, calling on the Belarusian government to “accurately” count and publish the poll’s results.
Armenia is a member of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union and Collective Security Treaty Organization both of which also include Belarus.
Other leaders of the alliances, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kazakhstan’s President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev, have also sent congratulatory telegrams to Lukashenka on his re-election.
Belarus’s autocratic leader who turns 66 later this month has occupied the presidential post since 1994.
Facebook Forum