Lukashenko not the legitimate president of Belarus, opposition leader says

Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya denounced Wednesday's abrupt swearing-in of President Alexander Lukashenko for a sixth term, saying he was "neither a legal nor a legitimate head of Belarus".

"His secret inauguration is an attempt to seize power," Tsikhanouskaya said in a speech to the parliamentary assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

"It also means that after today Alexander Lukashenko is neither a legal nor a legitimate head of Belarus. The only solution is free and fair elections", she said.