Britain and Canada have imposed sanctions targeting the regime of Belarus' dictator president, Alexander Lukashenko, following his disputed election over the weekend to a seventh term.

Belarusians are voting in a closely-managed presidential election that is all but certain to extend the one-man rule of Alexander Lukashenko, in power since 1994 and Europe’s longest-serving leader.

MINSK - Incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko has won the presidential election of Belarus, according to the preliminary results released early Monday by the country's Central Election Commission.

Belarusians will go to the polls for “presidential elections,” an event seen by many as a “sham,” a “no-choice election” (bezvybory), and little more than a ritual for Aliaksandr Lukashenka, who has been president of Belarus for more than three decades.

Canada said on Monday it would impose sanctions on 10 individuals and 12 entities in Belarus, citing what it called "gross and systematic human rights violations" by Minsk. In a statement, the foreign ministry also condemned what it called Sunday's fraudulent presidential election.

On Monday, the British Foreign Office sanctioned a number of individuals and entities in Belarus in response to the presidential election. Alexander Lukashenko was re-elected for a seventh five-year term with a dictatorial score of over 87% of the vote,