The street hockey playing, ex-farm manager and last dictator of Europe, Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus has been voted back in for a fourth term and kicked out the OSCE to boot.Lukashenko won nearly 80% of the votes; he seems to have learnt something about elections and the perception of the outside world during his 16 years tenure; he used to win by 90%.
About ten years ago I remember my Belorussian colleagues at the time saying to me that they couldn't arrange a visit as they would be busy "voting in the President."
Which reminds me of another story when George Bush referred to Lukashenko as "the last dictator of Europe", Lukashenko quipped back that Bush was "the worlds number one terrorist". Touche!
Seriously though the opposition are looking at 15 year jail terms for, er, opposing the government.
I have just finished reading a book about the Berlin Wall which came down over 22 years ago, you would think this sort of thing was in the past by now.