Austrian Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen will not congratulate Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko on his victory in the presidential election. This was announced on Tuesday, August 11, to RIA Novosti by the press secretary of the Austrian President, Reinhard Pikl-Herk.
“The federal president will not send a congratulatory telegram,” the agency quoted the interlocutor as saying.
The spokesman did not explain the reason for this decision.
The presidential elections in Belarus took place on August 9. According to the CEC, the current leader of the country, Alexander Lukashenko, won 80.08% of the vote, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya – 10.09%. The third place was taken by the “candidate against all”. The turnout in the elections was 84%, Gazeta.ru writes.
Tikhanovskaya’s headquarters did not recognize the official data of the Central Election Commission and believes that data from polling stations in all regions of the state show her results in 70-80%.
After the announcement of the preliminary results, unauthorized protests began in Minsk and other cities of Belarus, which resumed in the evening of August 10. The protesters erected barricades from garbage cans. The police used tear gas, water cannons and stun grenades against them. After the riots, criminal cases were initiated.