Belarusian Celebrity Girl

In the country's 2006 presidential election, Lukashenko was opposed by Alaksandar Milinkievič, a candidate representing a coalition of opposition parties, and by Alaksandar Kazulin of the Social Democrats. Kazulin was detained and beaten by police during protests surrounding the All Belarusian People's Assembly. Lukashenko won the election with 80% of the vote; the Russian Federation and the CIS called the vote open and fair while the OSCE and other organizations called the election unfair.
Lukashenko has described himself as having an "authoritarian ruling style." Western countries have described Belarus under Lukashenko as a dictatorship; the government has accused the same Western powers of trying to oust Lukashenko. The Council of Europe has barred Belarus from membership since 1997 for undemocratic voting and election irregularities in the November 1996 constitutional referendum and parliament by-elections. The Belarusian government is also criticized for human rights violations and its actions against non-governmental organizations, independent journalists, national minorities, and opposition politicians.
Belarus is the only nation in Europe that retains the death penalty for certain crimes during times of peace and war. The constitution was also changed by Lukashenko in 2004 to lift the two-term limit for the presidency. Previously in 1996, Lukashenko called for a controversial vote to extend the presidential term from five years to seven years and the voters passed it. In testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, former United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice labeled Belarus among the six nations of the "outposts of tyranny". In response, the Belarusian government called the assessment "quite far from reality."