Belarusian Electoral Body To Announce Presidential Race Winner On Friday

MINSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th August, 2020) The head of Belarus's Central Election Commission says she will announce the winner of the presidential race on Friday.

"I hope we will announce preliminary results tomorrow [Monday]... and, on Friday, I expect us to know the final results," Lidia Yermoshina said in a comment to Belarus 1, a state television channel.

As soon as that happens, she said defeated presidential hopefuls should concede in order to avoid sowing unrest among their supporters.

"I expect [losing candidates] to be able to accept their defeat. The OSCE guidelines for election monitoring state clearly that a candidate should be ready to lose... to avoid unsettling the people who backed them and who are ready to take to the streets," she said.

Incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko is expected to win a sixth term after early results of Sunday's election showed him lead the polls with a comfortable majority.