The opposition does not recognise the results that make him president of Belarus again

Lukashenko, invested for his sixth term in an unannounced ceremony

AFP/ANDREI STASEVICH - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is sworn in during his inauguration ceremony in Minsk on 23 September 2020

Updated: 24/09/20

The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, was invested for his sixth term as head of the former Soviet republic in a ceremony that was not announced in advance, reported the official Belarusian agency BELTA.

The ceremony took place in the Palace of Independence in Minsk and was attended by parliamentarians and other authorities of the country.

According to official figures, Lukashenko was re-elected with 80.1 percent of the votes in the elections of 9 August, a result that is not recognised by the opposition or the West and has sparked the biggest wave of protests in Belarus's post-Soviet history.

"By taking office as President of Belarus I solemnly swear to serve the people of the Republic of Belarus, to respect and protect the rights and freedoms of individuals and citizens...", Lukashenko said with his right hand on a copy of the country's Constitution.

The president then signed the minutes of the oath, after which he received his credentials as head of state from the president of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) of Belarus, Lidia Yermoshina.

"The day of our inauguration as president is the day of our victory, convincing and crucial. Not only have we elected the president of the country, but we have defended our values, our peaceful life, our sovereignty and independence," said Lukashenko.

The president, in power since 1994, indicated that this year will enter the country's history as a period of extreme emotions.

"An unprecedented challenge was thrown at our state system, a challenge of proven technologies for the destruction of independent states. But we have been one of the few, if not the only ones, where the 'colour revolution' did not succeed," he said.

Meanwhile, the Belarusian opposition announced indefinite protests after President Alexandr Lukashenko assumed his sixth term on Wednesday in an unannounced inauguration ceremony that took place in the midst of the serious political crisis in the country following the August 9 elections. "We will never accept falsifications and we demand new elections," Pavel Latushko, one of the leaders of the Belarusian opposition, said in Telegram.