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President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus has assumed his sixth term of office in an inauguration ceremony that wasn't announced in advance, according to Euronews.

State news agency Belta reported that Wednesday's ceremony is taking place in the capital of Minsk, with several hundred top government officials present.

It comes after six weeks of mass protests against the official results of the August 9 presidential election that resulted in Lukashenko's reelection after 26 years in office in office. The opposition in Belarus has challenged the election as rigged, Euronews reported.

According to the official results, Lukashenko, who has run the ex-Soviet nation of 9.5 million with an iron fist, won 80 per cent of the vote. The United States and the European Union have also criticised the violent police crackdown on post-election protests in Belarus.

According to a post on the state media's Telegram account, the inauguration ceremony took place at 10.30 am CEST at the Palace of Independence in the centre of Minsk.

"Putting his right hand on the Constitution, Alexander Lukashenko took the oath in Belarusian," it stated. "Then he signed the act of taking the oath, after which the chairman of the Central Commission of Belarus on Elections and the Conduct of Republican Referendums, Lidiya Yermoshina, presented Alexander Lukashenko with an ID of the President of the Republic of Belarus."

Several hundred loyalists were invited to the ceremony, including senior officials, heads of state agencies, members of the House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic, according to reports.