Belarus Updates: US Declares Elections Illegitimate

UPDATE 1915 GMT: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports that opposition candidate Vladimir Neklyayev, who was hospitalised on Sunday after he was beaten unconscious by police, was subsequently snatched from his hospital bed by men in plainclothes.

Now See Wednesday's Updates: 5 Presidential Candidates, 12 Others Accused of "Organising Riots"

UPDATE 1900 GMT: Activists claim that independent exit polls showed President Alexander Lukashenko was preferred by 40% of voters, followed by Vladimir Neklyayev with 19.3% and Andrei Sannikov with 13%.

The official return declared Lukashenko the victor with 80%, with no opponent getting more than 2.56%. Neklyayev was reportedly beaten unconscious and taken to hospital during Sunday protests.

UPDATE 1710 GMT: Reporters Without Borders says about 20 journalists were arrested and another 20 beaten by police during Sunday's demonstration in front of government buildings in Minsk.

UPDATE 1310 GMT: Two of the seven opposition candidates who were arrested on Sunday have been released. Grigory Kostusyev, appearing at a news conference announcing an attempt to unify opposition forces, said he and Dmitry Uss had been freed after interrogation.

UPDATE 0830 GMT: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has "extended a message of congratulations to his Belarusian counterpart on his re-election". Ahmadinejad hoped that Iran and Belarus "will strengthen their growing relations and expand bilateral cooperation in the international arenas".

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The Obama Administration has said that Sunday's elections in Belarus, in which  President Alexander Lukashenko was given 80% of the vote, are illegitimate.

Earlier Updates: Police Beat Back Anti-Government Protest over Elections

Video: Thousands of Anti-Government Protestors Storm Government Building

The Administration also warned that the use of force against protesters was "disproportionate" and warned that the situation put Washington's relations with Minsk at risk.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said, "The United States concurs with the assessment of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe). We cannot consider the election results yesterday as legitimate."

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs added, "The United States strongly condemns the actions that the government of Belarus has taken to undermine the democratic process and (the use of) disproportionate force against political activists, civil society representatives and journalists."

Gibbs called for the "immediate release" from detention of hundreds of protestors, including six or seven of the nine opposition candidates, and noted disruption of the Internet in the days before the election. He said, "The actions taken over the last 24 hours...are a clear step backwards on issues central to our relationship with Belarus." 

Russia has set out a very different position on the elections: President Dmitry Medvedev described the situation as an "internal affair".