The United States stated that it considers the elections in Belarus to be fictitious.

The State Department said the United States considers the elections in Belarus a “sham” that was conducted “in an atmosphere of fear” without any democratic procedures.

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“The United States condemns the fictitious parliamentary and local elections organized by the Lukashenko regime, which ended today in Belarus. The elections were held in an atmosphere of fear, and none of the electoral processes can be called democratic,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

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On a single voting day, citizens of Belarus were supposed to elect 12,514 thousand deputies of local councils and 110 deputies of the lower house of parliament for a period of five years. 263 candidates applied for deputy seats in the lower house of parliament, 18.8 thousand – in local councils. All four parties registered in the country nominated their candidates.

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The State Department accused the Belarusian authorities of refusing to register all independent political parties, banning voting abroad, and refusing to allow OSCE observers.