Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko poses for photographers as he casts his ballot during parliamentary elections in Minsk, Belarus, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016.
Advertisement
Belarus Parliament got two opposition members, Mrs. Konopatskaya is a member of the opposition United Civil Party, and Mrs. Anisim reportedly ties with an opposition.
Allies of Lukashenko, who has wielded an iron grip on politics in the former Soviet republic of 9.5 million since 1994, dominated Sunday’s election, taking 108 of parliament’s 110 seats.
“Yes, nothing in the country has changed, but there is stability and order”, Pavel Lastovsky, a 56-year-old engineer who voted at a Minsk school, said. “We need more freedom for small- and medium-sized businesses as the economy is going down”.
Polling stations closed on Sunday evening, with officials declaring that the level of voter participation exceeded the 50-percent threshold for the election to be valid.
This year’s elections are held according to new rules – in a single round.
The outcome of the current elections is expected to lead to the representation of opposition for the first time in 12 years in the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus. Seeking loans from worldwide lenders, including $3 billion from the global Monetary Fund, Belarus has implemented cautious economic reforms such as raising the retirement age and relaxing foreign currency rules.
Political prisoners were released a year ago, prompting the European Union to lift almost all of its sanctions and the United States to partially scrap its trade restrictions imposed over a perceived lack of democracy. The U.S. also suspended sanctions against some Belarusian enterprises, saying the issue of fully lifting them would be considered after a review of the elections to the lower house. There are also concerns that the state can manipulate the results through early balloting, since ballot boxes were left unguarded during the five days of early voting. Opposition groups are not planning a mass boycott or protests like those held over previous elections.
Advertisement
The vote, however, did show that Lukashenko was somewhat relaxing his grip on Belarusian political life. “Parliament will remain sterile, the deputies will be carefully selected”, said Alexander Klaskovsky, an independent political analyst.
