BELARUS-VOTE

An elderly woman (R) raises a toast with a glass of vodka to President Alexander Lukashenko as a member of the election commission drinks tea in the village of Vasilkovo, some 45 km from Minsk, on December 19, 2010. Belarus went to the polls on December 19 in presidential elections expected to hand a fourth term to its unpredictable strongman Alexander Lukashenko, extending his grip on power for another five years. Lukashenko, who has been at the helm of this poor ex-Soviet state for the past 16 years, is running against an array of nine opposition candidates. AFP PHOTO/ ALEXEY GROMOV