The last time Belarus staged a presidential election in 2020, authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko was declared the winner with 80 per cent of the vote. That triggered cries of fraud, and months of protests.

Not wanting to risk such unrest again by those opposing his three decades of iron-fisted rule, Lukashenko advanced the timing of the 2025 election —from the warmth of August to frigid January, when demonstrators are less likely to fill the streets.