Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko has extended his more than three decades in power in Sunday’s orchestrated election that the opposition and the European Union rejected as a sham.

Europe’s longest-serving leader won re-election in a contest widely believe to have been rigged. The result cements the power of a leader whose country is considered Russia’s staunchest ally.

Belarus on Sunday held an orchestrated election virtually guaranteed to give its 70-year-old autocrat, Alexander Lukashenko, yet another presidential term on top of his three decades in power.