president aleander lukeshe in. ko is prepared to win. he has been in power for the past 21 years.eev barker reports. >> reporter: he has held on to power for more than two decades making him europe's longest running leader and belarus, according to washington, europe's last dictatorship. he faces three nominal rivals but he says he will be watching closely for any drop in support. for me it's very important to hold on to the level of support i had in previous elections. his reelection led to mass protests and jailing of opposition figures. the eu imposed economic sanctions on officials and companies. the war in nabor ukraine k for while politic opponents continue to be jailed, the. u says it will temporarily lift sanctions providing the election takes place without incident. the noble laureate warned against the move. >> it doesn't matter to him how we vote. as stalin said it's not important who votes or how they vote. what's important is who counts the votes. i think that's the case here i don't think we can expect any surprises. >> in recent years, lucashenko capitalized acting