The authoritarian president of Belarus, Mr Alexander Lukashenko, has told his main challenger to "act like a man" and admit defeat after he contested election results which international observers have slammed as fake.
With the former Soviet republic's hardline leader claiming a landslide re-election with more than 75 per cent of the vote, his main rival, Mr Vladimir Goncharik, denounced Sunday's ballot as a "monstrous fraud".
But Mr Lukashenko (47) airily brushed aside the trade union leader's protest and hinted he might seek a third term in five years.
"You have to know how to win and lose. I call on Goncharik to act as a man like Gaidukevich," the president said to repeated bursts of applause in a press conference packed with his supporters.
The ultra-nationalist Mr Sergei Gaidukevich, who won just 2 per cent of the votes counted, recognised Mr Lukashenko's victory in an open letter yesterday.
The president, who has ruled Belarus with an iron fist since 1994, said: "The elections were open and democratic with a high turnout and conformed to national laws and international norms.
"The people elected their president on the first round. The authorities showed their strength and good organisation, the people showed wisdom and spirit. This was an elegant victory," he added.
Human rights organisations said the elections were a farce. Opposition estimates indicated that Mr Lukashenko won 46.7 per cent of the poll. While Mr Goncharik challenged the elections outcome, only 300 demonstrators turned out to support him and demand a new ballot at a rally in Minsk called by the opposition leader.
Russia moved quickly to recognize the results, with President Vladimir Putin becoming the first foreign leader to congratulate Mr Lukashenko on his re-election, calling it a "convincing victory". Belarus is poor and politically isolated, relying heavily on support from Russia. The pan-European security body OSCE, which had 300 observers monitoring the poll, criticised it as undemocratic but stopped short of declaring it invalid, stressing the need to avoid isolating Belarus.