Belarus opposition back in parliament after long exile - but strongman president enjoys 108-2 majority

Opposition groups in Belarus, a country once dubbed “Europe’s last dictatorship” by the US, won seats in parliament for the first time since 2004 as President Alexander Lukashenko seeks to mend ties with the West to help his battered economy.

Allies of Lukashenko, who has wielded an iron grip on politics in the former Soviet republic of 9.5 million since 1994, dominated Sunday’s election, taking 108 of parliament’s 110 seats. Opponents of the government won two mandates, one by a member of the pro-Western United Civil Party, and another by an independent from the non-governmental Belarusian Language Society. The former Soviet republic has drawn repeated criticism from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a ballot-monitoring watchdog, for failing to hold fully democratic elections and suppressing opposition parties.

“I want the opposition to exist and be constructive,” Lukashenko told reporters after casting his vote in the company of his twelve-year-old son Nikolai. “I don’t want the opposition to be a fifth column in the country.”

A few critical voices in the country’s legislature will do little to challenge the 62-year-old president, who expanded his powers in 1996 to weaken parliament’s ability to influence policies. Still, the opposition’s gains are a nod to Lukashenko’s efforts to improve his country’s relations with Western countries as Belarus struggles to recover from an economic crisis that has hammered its ruble, fueled inflation and triggered a recession.

Lidiya Ermoshina, the head of the Minsk-based central electoral committee, gave a preliminary turnout estimate of 74.3 per cent.