“Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denounced the Belarus election in a statement on Monday as ‘not free and fair’ and urged the country’s authoritarian government to ‘refrain from use of force’ against protesters who have taken to the streets” Axios reports.
“President Aleksander Lukashenko, known as ‘Europe’s last dictator,’ claimed to have won in a landslide against the pro-democracy opposition in a Sunday election widely viewed as rigged. Pompeo said that ‘severe restrictions on ballot access for candidates, prohibition of local independent observers at polling stations,’ and ‘intimidation tactics employed against opposition candidates’ have marred the country’s election process.”