Presidential elections in Belarus

President of Belarus is directly elected by the people of Belarus for a five year term. Elections of the President of the Republic of Belarus are held in the united constituency comprising the whole territory of the Republic of Belarus.

Schedule for the elections

Elections of the President of the Republic of Belarus are announced by the House of Representatives not later than 5 months and are held not later than 2 months ahead of the termination of authority of the incumbent President.

Requirements

To be nominated as a presidential candidate a person must be a natural-born citizen of the Republic of Belarus and must be at least 40 years old. A presidential candidate should be eligible to vote and permanently live in the Republic of Belarus for at least twenty years before elections. Other requirements include never having a foreign citizenship or a residence permit or other documents of a foreign state granting benefits and preferences. Citizens who were convicted and whose sentence has taken effect cannot run for president.

An elected president cannot serve more than two terms in office.

All presidential candidates have equal rights and obligations. The candidates have no right to use the advantages of their position in their interests.

Nomination of candidates

Candidates are nominated by citizens of the Republic of Belarus. Candidates must obtain at least 100 thousand signatures of voters.

The nomination of candidates starts 80 days and ends 50 days prior to the elections.

Registration of candidates

Registration of candidates is carried out by the Central Election Commission. It begins 35 days and is over 25 days prior to the elections.

The Central Election Commission has the right to refuse registration if:

• it finds out principal discrepancies in the income declaration of a presidential candidate;
• the number of invalid signatures exceeds 15 percent of the total number of the collected signatures

Legitimacy of the elections

To win election, a candidate must poll over 50% of the valid vote, and turnout must be at least 50%.

If no candidate receives more than 50% in a first round vote, a second round is held within two weeks between the two candidates who placed highest in the first round. The President is considered elected in the second round if he has polled over 50% of votes of the electors, who have taken part in elections.

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