There are dictators a bit worse than me, no? I’m the lesser evil already.
– Alexander Lukashenko
PG says if you can’t quite place Lukashenko, he became the President of Belarus in 1994 and has remained in that position ever since. In 1996, Lukashenko ushered in a new constitution that gave him (among other powers) the right to prolong his term in office and to rule by decree.
In rankings of fiscal health and economic freedom, Belarus is ranked 42nd out of 44 European countries.