Alexander Lukashenko took office as the President of Belarus. This is reported on the official website of the President of Belarus.
The inauguration ceremony took place in the Palace of Independence. Several hundred people were invited to it. Among them are senior officials, deputies of the House of Representatives and members of the Council of the Republic, heads of state bodies and organizations, local executive and administrative bodies, republican mass media, figures of science, culture and sports.
Placing his right hand on the Constitution, Lukashenko took the oath in Belarusian. Then he signed the oath-taking act, after which the Chairperson of the Central Commission of Belarus for Elections and Conduct of Republican Referendums Lydia Ermoshina presented Lukashenko with the certificate of the President of the Republic of Belarus.
"On this solemn day, the president takes an oath of loyalty to the Fatherland and the people with a special feeling. There is a lot of pride in him for the Belarusians, who have passed the test of strength with honor, first of all, of their convictions, - said Lukashenko. - The day of the inauguration of the president is the day of our victory with you, convincing and fateful. We did not just elect the president of the country - we defended our values, our peaceful life, sovereignty and independence. And in this regard, we still have a lot to do."
The head of Belarus said that this year will go down in the history of Belarus as an extremely emotional period.
"Our statehood was challenged by an unprecedented challenge - a challenge to the repeatedly proven fail-safe technologies for the destruction of independent states. But we turned out to be among the very few - perhaps even the only ones - where the "color revolution" did not take place. And this is the choice of Belarusians who do not want to lose their country under any circumstances," Lukashenko emphasized.
And he noted that these events made it possible to make sure that the overwhelming majority of Belarusians love their land, wish it peace, tranquility and prosperity.
"Despite the diabolically sophisticated incitement from the outside, we maintained respect for each other," he added.
It should be noted that a number of Belarusian mass media claim that Lukashenko held the inauguration secretly, behind closed doors, to which only selected people were invited.
Let us remind you that mass protests are taking place in Belarus. The protesters do not agree with the results of the presidential election on August 9, which resulted in Lukashenko winning with 80,1% of the vote.
