They were not, but since the polls were banned during elections the government at least had some deniability and fewer people were convinced it was all fake. But this time massive protests and polls and information online convinced everyone there is no real support left. Hence the shutdown of the internet.

So-called "elections" after 5th-6th term are a bad joke. Face it, ex-Soviet republics Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan never seazed to be totalitarian regimes with pathetic tries to convince the world they adopted some democracy.

As far as I understand, the 1994 election in which Lukashenko initially came to power was considered fair and representative of the people's will.

The rest, not so much, however even if we directly compare with previous Belarus elections, this time the election rigging went further than before, turning it into a farce that's not taken well by the public this time.