one of them said he actually supports alexandar lukashenko.s. and when i put this to mr lukashenko at the press conference, he told me, "well, this is a new experience for you, steve." the leader of belarus faces no serious challenge in this election. all his most vocal critics, his staunchest opponents, are either injail or they're in exile. which is why the european union's foreign policy chief described this as a sham election. for more on this let's speak to dr stephen g f hall, lecturer in russian and post—soviet politics at the university of bath. welcome to the programme. many of our viewers will not know a huge amount of detail about alexandar lukashenko, but he is a colourful and very controversial leader, of course likely to win these elections because as steve was saying, many countries believe they are a sham, he doesn't have any opponents. tell us why he is such a significant figure. he is such a significant figure. he: is significant in that he's widely been labelled as the last dictator in europe, that was before vladimir putin

one of them said he actually supports alexandar lukashenko.mr lukashenko at the press conference, he told me, "well, this is a new experience for you, steve." the leader of belarus faces no serious challenge in this election. all his most vocal critics, his staunchest opponents, are either injail or they're in exile. which is why the european union's foreign policy chief described this as a sham election. steve rosenberg there. just a reminder of another big breaking story this half—hour, it is that senior palestinian islamichhad official has told the bbc that an agreement has been reached with mediators for the release of an israeli civilian hostage, arbel yehud. she will be freed on friday in exchange for the release of 13 palestinian prisoners who have been serving long—term or life sentences. the other significant development in this is it now means that hundreds of thousands of displaced palestinians can begin returning to their homes in the north of gaza either tonight or tomorrow morning. so for the israeli government had been blocking

one of them said he actually supports alexandar lukashenko.f belarus. and when i put this to mr lukashenko at the press conference, he told me, "well, this is a new experience for you, steve." the leader of belarus faces no serious challenge in this election. all his most vocal critics, his staunchest opponents, are either in jail or they're in exile. which is why the european union's foreign policy chief described this as a sham election. director of the independent belarusian thinktank center for new ideas, alesia rudnik told me that the result of the exit poll was what she expected. the exact number that will be reported by the central electoral commission tomorrow will most likely be tomorrow, that does not change much in the countries politics and does not have any effect on what is going to happen in that country, just as the previous election has not changed. the numbers do not really matter but they were expected by many experts including me, so the election was without any equal access for the opposition candidates which were absent a

one of them said he actually supports alexandar lukashenko.this to mr lukashenko at the press conference, he told me, "well, this is a new experience for you, steve." the leader of belarus faces no serious challenge in this election. all his most vocal critics, his staunchest opponents, are either in jail or they're in exile. which is why the european union's foreign policy chief described this as a sham election. tatsiana kulakevich is associate professor of instruction in the school of interdisciplinary global studies at the university of south florida. i spoke to her a little earlier and she gave me her assessment of events. it is the seventh election in a row and the six out of seven had over 80%, some of those were over 90, so the expectation was that he would prefer something around 80. 88 is again expected. if you look positively at this number is that he himself confirms that there is no real opposition, real opponents running against him. so it was not a choice for voters. what have you made about how the process of the election has u

one of them said he actually supports alexandar lukashenko.larus. and when i put this to mr lukashenko at the press conference, he told me, "well, this is a new experience for you, steve." the leader of belarus faces no serious challenge in this election. all his most vocal critics, his staunchest opponents, are either in jail or they're in exile. which is why the european union's foreign policy chief described this as a sham election. once dubbed "europe's last dictator", mr lukashenko has been in powerfor more than three decades — and is a close ally of russia's president putin. after the last elections in 2020, which he claimed to have won with 80% of the vote, he crushed street protests prompted by allegations of vote—rigging. in recent months, he has released some political prisoners, but more than 1,200 remain behind bars. let's speak to victoria leukavets, post—doctoral researcher at stockholm centre for eastern european studies where she is leader of the belarus project. thank you forjoining us tonight. you heard that number there, 87.

one of them said he actually supports alexandar lukashenko.r the current leader of belarus. and when i put this to mr lukashenko at the press conference, he told me, "well, this is a new experience for you, steve." the leader of belarus faces no serious challenge in this election. all his most vocal critics, his staunchest opponents, are either in jail or they're in exile. which is why the european union's foreign policy chief described this as a sham election. let's speak to tatsiana kulakevich, associate professor of instruction in the school of interdisciplinary global studies at the university of south florida. thank of south florida. you forjoining us here on thank you forjoining us here on bbc news. i wondered first what you made of that figure, the 87.6% as quoted in the exit poll that gives lukashenko this victory? poll that gives lukashenko this victo ? . ~ poll that gives lukashenko this victo ? ., ~ poll that gives lukashenko this victo ? ., ., ., victory? thank you for having me and let's _ victory? thank you for having me and let'

an election slammed as a "sham" and a farce — alexandar lukashenko prepares to return to power

one of them said he actually supports alexandar lukashenko.t this to mr lukashenko at the press conference, he told me, "well, this is a new experience for you, steve." the leader of belarus faces no serious challenge in this election. all his most vocal critics, his staunchest opponents, are either in jail or they're in exile. which is why the european union's foreign policy chief described this as a sham election. let's speak to alesia rudnik, who's director of the independent belarusian thinktank center for new ideas. many thanks for joining many thanks forjoining us on bbc news. when you look at that number of 87.6% for the exit poll, was that around a number you are expected to see? i deftly expected, because the regime expects this and yesterday lukashenko mentioned yesterday lu kashenko mentioned he yesterday lukashenko mentioned he does not really care what the western countries of the election and generally in the country, so there will be, reported by the electoral commission tomorrow and that doesn't change much in the country's pol

now, where voting is taking place in a presidential election that's all but certain to hand alexandar lukashenkossia's president putin, and a supporter of his war on ukraine. most of his fiercest critics — and serious rivals — are either in prison or in exile. the election has been described by eu officials as "a farce". now it's time for a look at today's sport. we start with football and the premier league. four fixtures on sunday, two of which are under way. tottenham are hosting leicester, with both teams in desperate need for three points. spurs are without a league win in six, leicester have lost their seven. there is currently goalless. crystal palace are also taking on brentford right now. that is also goalless. in a couple of hours' time, aston villa host west ham in a repeat of graham potter's first game in charge, while in the later kick off, ruben amorim takes his manchester united side to face fulham. plenty of interesting games happening across europe on sunday too. earlier in scotland, rangers beat dundee united. they trail celtic by 10 points. in serie a, ac milan's hopes of a to