Belarusian leader and Russian ally Alexander Lukashenko extended his 31-year rule on Monday after electoral officials declared him the winner of a presidential election that Western governments rejected as a sham.

Alexander Lukashenko, the strongman who has ruled Belarus for three decades, secured a seventh term in power following an election on Sunday in which he faced no real competition. State media reported that 70-year-old Lukashenko,

Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko appeared set to win a seventh term in office on Jan. 26 in an election widely dismissed by the West and opposition groups as a sham. Lukashenko has reportedly secured 86.

President Alexander Lukashenko has won a a seventh term in office in Belarus, according to the country’s Central Election Commission. According to a statement by the Central Election Commission, the 70-year-old leader took nearly 87% per cent of the vote in Sunday’s election after a campaign in which four token challengers all praised his rule.

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