BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union rejected the election in Belarus on Sunday as illegitimate and threatened new sanctions. Belarus held an orchestrated vote virtually guaranteed to give 70-year-old autocratic President Alexander Lukashenko yet another term on top of his three decades in power.

By Mark Trevelyan (Reuters) -Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko pardoned 15 prisoners on Friday in what state media called a humanitarian gesture, two days before an election in which he is set to extend his 31-year rule.

Alexander Lukashenko, who has led Belarus for the past 30 years, was on Sunday set to win his seventh consecutive mandate in an election slammed by both the opposition and the European Union as a sham vote.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has called the presidential "elections" in Belarus an affront to democracy and does not recognise the legitimacy of Alexander Lukashenko. Source: Kaja Kallas on X (Twitter),