Human rights activists in Belarus have called this election campaign gross falsification of the vote and the official turnout during early voting, which was confirmed in a statement saying that “Belarus failed to live up to its constitutional and international commitments, unduly restricting political rights and fundamental freedoms during the election period”. In their research, they have found that despite restrictions, the opposition was able to mobilise an unprecedented number of supporters and activists through an organic social media movement whilst Lukashenka focused more on state controlled mass media in his campaign.

Human rights activists are now worried that the grave concern over the situation in Belarus.