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.

Britain on Monday imposed sanctions targeting Belarusian officials and defence companies after joining Western governments in condemning what they called "sham" presidential elections in the country.

Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko has extended his more than three decades in power in an orchestrated weekend election that the opposition and the European Union rejected as a farce.

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. “Today’s sham election in Belarus has been neither free,

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