Alexander Lukashenko has won a fifth term as president of Belarus with a landslide victory that could see an easing of relations with the west and raise questions about his ties to Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Russia's Sputnik news agency reported.

Support for Lukashenko over his 20-year-old regime has risen since he cast himself as a guarantor of stability in the face of economic crisis and a pro-Russia separatist conflict in neighbouring Ukraine.

Lukashenko won 83.5% of the vote, the central election commission said laste on Sunday, slightly more than the 80% he won in the 2010 elections. Turnout was 86.75%, the commission added.

Source: MENA