MINSK — Belarusians began voting Sunday in a presidential election as President Alexander Lukashenko seeks a seventh term in office after nearly three decades of rule.

Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. local time (0500GMT) and will remain open until 8 p.m. (1700GMT) across the nation. Over 6.9 million citizens are eligible to cast their ballots in the election.

Early voting took place from Jan. 21 to Jan. 25, with 41.81% of eligible voters participating, according to the Belarusian Central Election Commission (CEC).

CEC Chairman Igor Karpenko announced Saturday that nearly 500 international observers have been accredited to monitor the voting process.

Lukashenko, who has been in power since Belarus' first presidential election in 1994, is among five candidates vying for the presidency.

His challengers include Oleg Gaidukevich, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party; Sergey Syrankov, head of the Communist Party; Alexander Khizhnyak, leader of the Republican Party of Labour and Justice; and Hanna Kanapatskaya, an independent candidate who also contested the 2020 election. — Agencies