Monitors criticise elections as government backlash fears grow

EUROPEAN election monitors have declared that presidential elections in Belarus were flawed, but fear of brutal response from authorities makes a repeat of Ukraine’s Orange revolution look unlikely.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and the Council of Europe, said the election was neither free nor fair after 10,000 protesters huge numbers for the tightly controlled ex-Soviet state massed to denounce Sunday's election as rigged and support challenger Alexander Milinkevich.

A spokesperson for the OSCE said that the election, which returned incumbent President Aleksander Lukashenko to power for a third five-year term, "did not meet the required international standards for free and fair elections."