Lukashenko set to return to power in Belarus amid orchestrated election

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko cast his ballot in Minsk (Pavel Bednyakov/AP)

The smiling face of President Alexander Lukashenko gazed out from campaign posters across Belarus as the country held an orchestrated election guaranteed to give the 70-year-old autocrat another term in power.

“Needed!” the posters proclaim beneath a photo of Mr Lukashenko, his hands clasped together. The phrase is what groups of voters responded in campaign videos after supposedly being asked if they wanted him to serve again.