Protest held outside Belarus embassy in Warsaw

According to the official results of the Belarusian embassy, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya won the presidential election amongst Belarusian citizens based in Warsaw.It declared the main opponent of the incumbent president received 368 votes, while President Alexander Lukashenko got 69. A long queue formed in front of the embassy early Sunday morning.

Embassy staff admitted one person at a time, probably due to coronavirus sanitary precautions, but the result was that most of them were unable to enter and cast their vote.People tired of waiting decided to protest by creating an alternative polling station in front of the embassy, open to all Belarusian citizens.Here, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya won by a landslide, receiving 2,348 out of 2,379 votes cast, while Lukashenko got only three.

Belarusian citizens danced and sang late in front of the embassy building, saying they were showing solidarity with their compatriots protesting back home and in the hope of change.Meanwhile, election officials in Belarus said Monday that Lukashenko had won his sixth consecutive term with over 80% of the vote.

(Image Credit: AP)