January 2025 in Belarus is not one of them. Drive around Minsk and you'll see no big billboards promoting the portraits of candidates. There is little campaigning. The grey skies and sleet of a Belarusian winter add to an overriding sense of inactivity.

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.

Belarus' upcoming election, advanced from 2025, sees Alexander Lukashenko poised for a seventh term amidst a harsh suppression of dissent since 2020. Relying heavily on Russian support and hosting Russian tactical nuclear weapons,

Lukashenko, who has ruled the country since 1994, moved the election from August to January, reducing the likelihood of mass protests in freezing weather.

Belarus is set for a presidential election on Sunday, with five candidates on the ballot but no real contest. Alexander Lukashenko, in power since 1994, is expected to secure another five-year term, a result the

Belarusians go to the polls this weekend to vote in a presidential election that is almost certain to see incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko returned to office for a seventh term. The country was rocked by the largest mass protests since independence in the massively falsified previous elections in August 2020,

Belarusians vote on Sunday in a presidential election to extend Alexander Lukashenko's 30-year stranglehold on power in which he has crushed all opposition and helped his ally Russia invade Ukraine. In an interview with AFP ahead of the election,