[9] Observers and human rights organizations have noted that since the protests, the regime has thoroughly "cleansed" the political landscape, and that conditions for free elections are "currently practically absent in Belarus.

"[5] Days before the election, Lukashenko accused the West of trying to use "new triggers to destabilize the society" and claimed that Polish authorities were trying to convince senior Belarusian officials to switch their allegiance as part of a coup plot.

Belarusian political analyst Valery Karbalevich noted that Lukashenko was treating the election like a "military operation", with authorities seeing any vote "as a threat and a pretext to step up repressions and tighten the screws.

[13] The Interior Ministry conducted drills during which police detained offenders photographing ballots and creating artificial queues outside polling stations.

The Viasna Human Rights Center said that students, soldiers, teachers and other government employees were forced to participate in early voting.

The minimum number of members was increased from one to five thousand, the obligation to have structures in all country regions and other tightening norms were introduced.

[18] And in December he said that "only those parties should work in the political field of the country, the activity of which corresponds to the basic principles of domestic and foreign policy".

It also accredited representatives from 23 European Union member states, including from Germany, Poland and Lithuania, whose identities and affiliations were not disclosed.

[25][26][27] Russian president Vladimir Putin congratulated Lukashenko on "the confident victory of patriotic forces of Belarus", which he said helped to "ensure internal political stability.