Alexander Lukashenko, Europe’s longest-serving leader, has extended his 31-year rule in Belarus after being declared the winner of a presidential election that his exiled opponents and Western countries have denounced as a sham.

Belarus held an orchestrated election over the weekend that the opposition and the EU rejected as a farce, extending President Lukashenko's more than 30 years in power.

Alexander Lukashenko was declared the landslide winner of presidential elections in Belarus. His victory was seen as a foregone conclusion in a country he's run for more than 30 years.