Access to Belarus-based websites restricted ahead of main election day

January 25, Pozirk. Belarusian providers have restricted access to virtual hosting from abroad, making Belarus-based websites unavailable for users outside the country for three days, hoster.by, the largest domain registration service in Belarus, reports.
Restrictions have entered into force at 10 a.m. this morning and are expected to be lifted at midnight on January 27, it noted.
The dates coincide with the last day of early voting and the main voting day in the Belarusian presidential election. The vote is taking place in a purged political landscape amid a new wave of crackdown on regime critics as Alaksandar Łukašenka, in power since 1994, intends to secure another term in office.
Some 36 percent of voters have already cast their ballots in the four days of early voting, the Central Election Commission (CEC) reported yesterday.
The country has not held a single free and fair election since 1996 by the standards of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Łukašenka boasts that he personally authorizes internet shutdowns
- Politics, SocietyMałanka Media journalist beaten in VilniusThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- PoliticsLithuanian MP appeals to prosecutor’s office regarding Cichanoŭski’s remarksThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics, Society
- Germany news, Politics
- PoliticsRights defenders declare eight people to be political prisonersThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics, SocietyDeadline misstep leads to deportation for Belarusian family in SwedenThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- EconomyBelarus shows low coverage of external debt by international reservesThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- SocietyPoland seizes Belarusian cigarettes hidden in trucksThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics, SocietyMoscow reasserts naming rules for Belarusian Orthodox ChurchThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Economy, PoliticsPoland sanctions Belarusian Cement CompanyThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Economy
- Politics, SocietyInterior ministry brands brother of jailed journalist Łosik, 13 others as extremistsThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- SocietyInvestigators uncover drug trafficking route via BelarusThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- SocietyExplosion wrecks at major gas pipeline near MinskThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Society
- Society
- Politics, SportWorld Sailing: Belarusian athletes can compete as neutralsThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics, Security
- SecurityPoland pulls out of Ottawa TreatyThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- SocietyBelarus to raise childcare benefitThe material is available only to POZIRK+