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Voters in Belarus have
overwhelmingly endorsed constitutional changes to allow
authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko, seen here, to seek a
third tem in office, according to provisional results of a weekend
referendum, the electoral commission chief has announced
(AFP) |
Voters in Belarus have overwhelmingly endorsed constitutional changes
to allow authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko to seek a third term in
office, according to provisional results of a weekend
referendum, the electoral commission chief has announced.
Lukashenko "was supported by 77.3 percent of all registered voters,"
with "86.2 percent of those who turned out to vote casting their ballots
in favor," commission chief Lydia Yermoshina said in televised comments.
Approval from over 50 percent of registered voters was required for the
measure to pass.
Nearly 90 percent of the country's voters cast their ballots in what
Yermoshina called a "gratifying and high turnout" in comments televised
after the polls closed.
Seven million voters in this impoverished Slavic state of 10
million people on Europe's eastern edge were also electing on Sunday a new
110-seat parliament which Lukashenko has already vowed will not include a
single opponent of his rule.
Full official results were expected later in the day.
Opposition leaders Sunday roundly condemned the conduct of the
elections.
"There is large-scale fraud taking place," Vintsuk Vyachorka, leader of
the National Front Party, told a press conference. "It is a farce."
"(Public television) Channel 1 started publishing exit polls at midday,
claiming the "Yes" camp had won more than 80 percent of votes," complained
Communist Party leader Sergei Kaliakin, who said this was "a way of
putting pressure on voters".
Kaliakin also accused electoral observers from the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS), which groups all former Soviet republics minus
the Baltic states, of overtly
backing Lukashenko.
The pan-European OSCE rights and democracy watchdog has sent observers
to monitor the vote, although some of them have been denied entrance
visas.
"They are throwing out observers from the election booths," Vyachorka
complained to Moscow Echo radio.
Exit poll figures were conflicting, with the state-linked ECOOM polling
agency giving Lukashenko 82 percent support in the referendum.
However, an independent exit poll set up by the Gallup Organisation
showed that only 48.4 percent of Belarus's registered voters cast their
ballots in favor of altering the constitution -- falling short of the
required 50 percent, the Baltic Surveys group reported overnight.
(Agencies) | 
Updated: 2004-10-18 10:22