Lukashenko won more than 80 percent of votes, according to exit polls. | The president's media service. Lukashenko wins in Belarus, opposition enraged EU to decide on lifting sanctions by end of October.

MINSK — President Alexander Lukashenko won again in Belarus, but his political opponent lashed out at the prospect the European Union would now lift sanctions.

Lukashenko won 83.5 percent of votes, while 6 percent of participants voted against all candidates, according to official results released Monday morning. Turnout was 87 percent.

However, the political opponent Lukashenko released from prison in August was enraged by Lukashenko's fifth victory.

"It's an absurdity," said Nikolai Statkevich, reacting to the expected lifting of sanctions by the EU against the Belarusian president and his entourage.

Statkevich, 59, was accused of plotting to riot on election night in 2010 and sentenced to six years in prison. He was released and pardoned in late August alongside five other opposition activists after the EU levied targeted sanctions.

In response to Lukashenko’s release of the prisoners, Brussels is mulling its asset freezes and travel bans against Belarusian officials, including Lukashenko, who had been blacklisted in previous years for Belarus’s manipulation of election results and the persecution of the political opposition.

The EU is also ready to suspend sanctions against almost two dozen Belarusian companies, accused of providing financial support to Lukashenko's regime in exchange for preferential treatment. A formal decision is expected by the end of the month.

However, an EU statement released Monday made no mention of lifting sanctions. The statement, by Federica Mogherini, the EU's foreign policy chief, and Johannes Hahn, the commissioner in charge of neighborhood policy, said the elections had been held in "a peaceful environment."

"We take note of the preliminary findings and conclusions of the OSCE/ODIHR [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe/Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights] International Election Observation Mission on the presidential elections in Belarus. According to the mission, Belarus still has considerable way to go towards fulfilling its OSCE commitments for democratic elections. Work needs to be done to improve the electoral framework, particularly on balanced electoral administration and election day procedures," the statement said. "We are ready to assist Belarus in its efforts to bring its election process in line with OSCE commitments and other international standards for democratic elections."

"Lukashenko wants more money, which can't be obtained without sanctions being lifted. Putin's funding [to Belarus] is no longer sufficient for the country's economic 'miracle,' so Lukashenko wants to get obtain at least a small part of the funds from the western democracies," Statkevich said in an interview during an anti-government rally of about 900 supporters.

Mainly thanks to Kremlin subsidies and loans, Belarus’s economy is still afloat, despite periods of severe crisis. The most recent was in 2011, when its domestic currency lost two-thirds of its value and inflation topped 100 percent.

Lukashenko, accompanied by his youngest son Nikolai, appeared at a polling station in a student's compound in one of the residential districts of Minsk on Sunday, and said that a possible improvement of relations depends now on the West.

“Everything the West wished to see ahead of the presidential election in Belarus has been done,” he said.

The fate of the sanctions now lies in the hands of observers from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. One hour before the closure of polling stations, its head ambassador Jacques Faure personally visited one of the polling stations in Minsk to observe the voting process.

"We do not live in a vacuum. We know what is going on in this continent. But our mandate is not about geopolitics," Faure said. "Our mandate is to gather facts ... and to check these facts."

It will be a tall order to convince western observers of the transparency of the elections, due to the return of a number of oddities that were criticized by local and international experts in previous years.

In particular, official data show a record level of voters, 36 percent, came to polls during a five-day period of early voting, which started October 6. Officially, this procedure is designed to help people who are unable to attend polling stations on election day. In 2010, just 23 percent of electorate took part in early voting.

Many experts believe that this procedure provides a wide opportunity to manipulate the results.

This story was updated with official final results and statement from the EU.