WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s prime minister gave Belarus' leading opposition presidential candidate a symbolic key to a new Belarusian center in Warsaw, saying Wednesday that the Polish government wanted to provide Belarusians with a home to continue their struggle for change.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki met Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, along with other opposition members, in his office for talks before they traveled to the new Belarusian House, a villa the Polish government made available as a new, larger location for the center that supports Belarusians in Poland.

Tsikhanouskaya has contested official election results that handed the longtime authoritarian president of Belarus, Aleksander Lukashenko, a sixth term.

She expressed gratitude for Poland’s support in this “difficult time for Belarus.”

“President Lukashenko has no mandate anymore, we cannot treat him as a president, we cannot entrust the future of our country in his hands,” she said, stressing that a new election is needed.

Morawiecki said that Poland "is an open home for all Belarusians who need help,” during the visit to the new center.

“We want all Belarusians to find their real, most wonderful home in Belarus as soon as possible, but we realistically know that this fight must also be fought and supported from somewhere else," he said.

Weeks of massive street protests in Belarus have followed an election on Aug. 9 that Lukashenko claims to have won with 80% of the vote to Tsikhanouskaya's 10%, but which is widely seen as having been rigged.

Amid the turmoil in Belarus, neighboring Poland and Lithuania have played key roles in supporting the Belarusian opposition, supplying Belarusians with news and information about the situation in the country and offering medical help to those hurt in the protests.

Tsikhanouskaya moved to Lithuania a day after the vote, under pressure from authorities.

Morawiecki's government has in past weeks announced a series of efforts to help, including providing scholarships and places at Polish universities for Belarusian students and academics.

The prime minister said Wednesday that Poland plans to present to the European Union an economic plan to provide further assistance.

“The entire EU supports the Belarusian people in their right to express their will, to live in freedom, in democracy,” Morawiecki said.

Tsikhanouskaya and Morawiecki later met with students at the Warsaw University.

Outside the university they were loudly greeted by dozens of young Belarusians, with the protests' white and red flags with a coat of arms, who were chanting “Sviata president" and other slogans.

The new Belarusian House is a 1930s villa that is regarded as a jewel of modernist architecture. Located in the prestigious Saska Kępa neighborhood, it has served as the French ambassador's residence and the Tunisian Embassy.

A huge white-red-white flag with a coat of arms decorated the villa on Wednesday. It was not the official flag of Belarus but has appeared at anti-Lukashenko protests.

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Follow all AP stories on the developments in Belarus at https://apnews.com/Belarus