BELARUS: Authorities report turnout of over 74 percent in an election in which voters were urged to abstain

Record ID: 864017

  • Title: BELARUS: Authorities report turnout of over 74 percent in an election in which voters were urged to abstain
  • Date: 24th September 2012
  • Summary: MINSK, BELARUS (SEPTEMBER 23, 2012) (REUTERS) CENTRAL SQUARE WITH BIG ELECTION POSTER BELARUS PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION POSTER PEOPLE WALKING ON SQUARE MINSK, BELARUS (SEPTEMBER 24, 2012) (REUTERS) MEMBERS OF BELARUS CENTRAL ELECTION COMMISSION ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE ELECTION POSTER ON WALL (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) HEAD OF BELARUS CENTRAL ELECTION COMMISSION LIDIYA YERMOSHINA, SAYING: "During these elections, 109 deputies were elected, according to preliminary results. There is only one election district where a deputy was not elected. It was in the Gomel region, the Novobiletsky election district. The elections there have taken place and the voters have come to the polling stations, but the election was carried out on the non-alternative basis, and as result the deputy candidate hasn't got the absolute majority of votes. In connection with this a new vote will be held in this election district." CAMERAS NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS YERMOSHINA LISTENING CENTRAL ELECTION COMMISSION MEMBERS LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 9th October 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belarus
  • City:
  • Country: Belarus
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAEJZSBOPPNYUG86YN1A0MO7DNG
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Authorities in Belarus said they had a strong turnout in a parliamentary election on Sunday (September 23) after hardline President Alexander Lukashenko denounced opposition leaders as "cowards" for urging people to boycott it as a sham exercise.
    The two main opposition parties had called on people to go fishing and abstain from voting in an election which they said would produce a token parliament to rubber-stamp directives by Lukashenko.
    Head of the central election committee Lidiya Yermoshina said turnout had been strong at 74.3 per cent and over a hundred deputies had been elected.
    "During these elections, 109 deputies were elected, according to preliminary results. There is only one election district where a deputy was not elected... The elections there have taken place and the voters have come to the polling stations," she said.
    The call for voters to shun the election prompted a sneering rebuke from Lukashenko, a populist who has run the former Soviet republic of 9.5 million with an iron fist since 1994 and has stifled any opposition to his rule.
    In the one seat which had not been decided, an opposition candidate failed to secure more than half the votes and a second round of voting would be held, Yermoshina said.
    The opposition United Civic Party and the Belarussian People's Front called for the boycott in protest at the continued detention of political prisoners and election fraud.
    But voting by students, armed service staff and police produced a 26 percent turnout in early voting and there was never any doubt that the ballot would be declared valid.
    The 110-seat parliament is made up mainly of independent candidates, few of whom are fielded by political parties, and its deputies rarely initiate any legislation of their own.
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