Several hundred people have been invited to attend the ceremony. These include senior officials, members of the House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic, heads of government bodies and organizations, local executive and executive bodies, the national media, scientists, figures of culture and sports.

In accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, the President assumes the office after taking the following oath: “Assuming the office of the President of the Republic of Belarus, I solemnly swear to faithfully serve the people of the Republic of Belarus, to respect and protect the rights and freedoms of man and of the citizen, to observe and protect the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, and to fulfill strictly and conscientiously the lofty duties that have been bestowed upon me.”

Holding his right hand on the Constitution, Aleksandr Lukashenko took the oath in the Belarusian language. After that Aleksandr Lukashenko signed the act of taking the oath, and Chairwoman of the Central Election Commission Lidia Yermoshina gave him the Certificate of the President of the Republic of Belarus.

The presidential election in Belarus took place on 9 August. According to the CEC, Aleksandr Lukashenko got 80.1% of the vote. The turnout was 84.28%.

“We must first of all protect the western jewel in the crown of Belarus with the center in Grodno,” Lukashenko said during his visit to a military firing range near Grodno, according to BelTA news agency.

Alexander Lukashenko urged “the toughest measures on protecting the country’s territorial integrity”.

Lukashenko said the scenario of color revolutions using the external factor is carried out against his country.

“Everything is clear. As we thought, everything is according to the plan of color revolutions with whipping up domestic political tensions in the country,” Lukashenko said, TASS reported.

According to the Belarusian leader, “the hallmark of the situation is that an external factor is used, which does not always happen.”

“Usually, they whip up tensions inside and topple the authorities. But since the authorities are strong and put up tough resistance, they have used an external factor,” Lukashenko said.

Lukashenko believes that the Western countries’ support for the opposition is direct meddling in the Belarusian situation.

“This concerns sponsoring (the opposition) and pushing us to hold talks with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, it’s clear why they are doing this,” he said. According to Lukashenko, these steps and statements by Western countries are “direct interference in the situation in Belarus.”

Other major Belarusian towns and cities also saw large rallies, local media reported, according to  Al Jazeera.

Chanting “Leave!”, the opposition supporters marched down Independence Avenue, some carrying a red and white flag, once the state flag and now used to represent opposition to Lukashenko’s government.

“It’s unbelievable what I am seeing here right now, there are up to 100,000 people here. Huge crowds” said Vaessen. “This is something Lukashenko was not expecting.”

Demonstrators held placards with slogans such as “We are against violence” and “Lukashenko must answer for the torture and death”.

A violent police crackdown on protesters saw more than 6,700 people arrested, hundreds wounded and two people dead. Many protesters alleged they were tortured in custody.

Opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya has come in second with 9.90%. The other three candidates received fewer than 2% of the vote: Anna Kanopatskaya got 1.68%, Sergei Cherechen – 1.13%, and Andrei Dmitriev – 1.04%. Meanwhile, 6.02% have voted against all candidates, TASS reported.

Yermoshina noted that the preliminary results would be expanded on, however, the final results are unlikely to change significantly.

Yermoshina also informed that the publication of the preliminary results had been postponed, as the employees of the Belarusian Election Commission were evacuated from the government building at about 01:00 am due to mass protests in Minsk.

The voter turnout at the presidential election is reported at 84.23%.