No credible opponents were allowed to run against Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus since the 1990s.

Belarusians are voting in a closely-managed presidential election that is all but certain to extend the one-man rule of Alexander Lukashenko, in power since 1994 and Europe’s longest-serving leader.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union rejected the election in Belarus on Sunday as illegitimate and threatened new sanctions. Belarus held an orchestrated vote virtually guaranteed to give 70-year-old autocratic President Alexander Lukashenko yet another term on top of his three decades in power.

The Central Election Commission declared Lukashenko the winner in the early hours of Monday and reaffirmed it later in the morning, saying the strongman leader garnered nearly 87% percent of the vote after a campaign in which four token challengers all have praised his rule.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, said that the elections in Belarus were illegitimate due to falsifications, repressions, and restrictions on citizens' rights.