News & Events in Belarus

MINSK, 12 September (BelTA) – The parliamentary elections in Belarus passed in a relaxed atmosphere. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko made the statement as he met with Head of the Belarus President Administration Alexander Kosinets on 12 September, BelTA has learned.

The head of state stated: “At least I’ve received no reports in the last 24 hours saying we have some security problems or some issues at polling stations. The elections are over and I would like to know the main results. How did the election really go from the point of view of the organizers? Because you and the Belarus President Administration were initially instructed to organize them in a way for things to proceed calmly, quietly and safely so that people could freely express their opinion, their will. This is how we are going to talk about it.”

Alexander Kosinets said that the elections had gone in compliance with the Belarusian laws. In his words, for the first time there were alternative candidates in all the 110 constituencies and the voter turnout reached 74.8%. The Head of the Belarus President Administration mentioned some reasons explaining the high voter turnout. “The first component is the consciousness of our people, who cannot stay indifferent about the construction of the young country. The second one is the tough competition for parliamentary seats — 484 candidates in 110 constituencies. Third, all branches of the government did a lot of work to ensure high discipline and perfect organization of the elections,” he explained.

The President was interested whether there were any complaints about municipal government agencies and Alexander Kosinets responded there were none. The Head of the Belarus President Administration drew attention to the high voter turnout in Minsk — 62.1%. Voter turnout in the regions was as high as 80% in some areas. “The fact indicates that the nation is interested and understands the need to elect the persons, who will defend their interests and make laws,” believes the Head of the Belarus President Administration.

During the meeting Alexander Lukashenko was informed about final results of the parliamentary elections in Belarus in detail.