Belarus - Parliament Election - 2024
In Belarus, during a single day of voting in parliamentary and local elections, which took place on 25 February 2024, all 110 deputies of the lower house of parliament were elected, said the head of the Central Election Commission of the republic, Igor Karpenko. At a press conference, Karpenko announced the names of candidates for parliamentary deputies who won the voting results in 110 constituencies. In total, 263 candidates are vying for seats in the lower house of parliament, and 18.8 thousand in local councils. All four parties registered in Belarus nominated their representatives.
According to the Constitution of Belarus (1994), the representative and legislative body of the country is the parliament (National Assembly). It consists of two houses: the House of Representatives (lower house) and the Council of the Republic (upper house). The composition of the House of Representatives is 110 deputies who are elected on the basis of universal, free, equal, direct suffrage by secret ballot.
The term of office is five years. Elections for a new House of Representatives are scheduled no later than three months before the single voting day. Extraordinary elections are held within three months from the date of early termination of the powers of the chamber. Elections of deputies are held on the last Sunday of February of the fifth year of the mandate of the Belarusian Parliament.
To conduct elections of deputies to the House of Representatives, 110 electoral districts will be formed on the territory of Belarus. One deputy is elected from each electoral district. A deputy of the House of Representatives can be a capable citizen of Belarus who has reached the age of 21 and permanently resides in the republic. Citizens against whom there is a court conviction that has entered into legal force cannot be nominated as candidates for deputies; having citizenship (nationality) of another state and (or) documents of foreign states that provide rights to benefits and advantages in connection with political, religious views or nationality.
The same person cannot simultaneously be a member of two houses of parliament. A deputy of the House of Representatives cannot be a member of the government or a deputy of the local council of deputies. It is not allowed to combine the duties of a member of the House of Representatives with the simultaneous holding of the position of president or judge.
The right to nominate candidates for deputies belongs to political parties registered by the Ministry of Justice no later than six months before the appointment of elections, labor collectives, as well as citizens by collecting signatures. The nomination of candidates for deputies begins 70 days and ends 40 days before the elections. A citizen can be nominated as a candidate for the House of Representatives in only one electoral district. The same person cannot simultaneously be nominated as a candidate for deputies of the House of Representatives and for deputies of the local council of deputies.
The nomination of candidates for deputies of the House of Representatives from political parties is carried out by the highest bodies of political parties. Nomination of candidates for deputies from labor collectives of organizations is carried out at meetings (conferences) of voters in labor collectives. Meetings (conferences) of voters in labor collectives of organizations located in the territory of the electoral district, numbering at least 300 people working and having the rights of a legal entity, are convened by the administration of the organization both on its own initiative and on the initiative of a group of voters of at least 150 people working In the organisation. More than half of the workforce must be present at the meeting. The decision of the meeting (conference) of the labor collective is made by a majority vote of its participants.
A candidate for deputy of the House of Representatives can be nominated from several smaller groups with a total number of employees of at least 300 people at their general meeting. At the same time, more than half of its composition must be present from each labor collective of an organization that has the rights of a legal entity. The labor collective can nominate only one candidate for deputies of the House of Representatives.
Nomination of a candidate for deputy by collecting signatures of voters is carried out by a group of voters (initiative group) of at least 10 people. A person proposed for nomination as a candidate for the House of Representatives in an electoral district by a group of voters must be supported by at least one thousand voters living in the territory of this electoral district.
Registration of parliamentary candidates begins 40 days and ends 25 days before the elections. A candidate for deputy may withdraw his candidacy at any time before election day. A political party or labor collective that nominated a candidate for deputy has the right, no later than five days before election day, to cancel its decision to nominate a candidate for deputy.
The text of the ballot for the election of a deputy is approved by the relevant district or territorial election commission. All registered candidates for deputies are included in the ballot in alphabetical order, indicating the surname, first name, patronymic (if any), date of birth, position of the employee (profession of a worker, occupation), place of work and place of residence (city, urban settlement or rural locality indicating the district), the party affiliation of each candidate for deputy. An empty square is placed to the right of each candidate's information. At the end of the list of candidates, the line “Against all candidates” is placed with an empty square located to the right of it. If the name of only one deputy candidate is included in the ballot, then the text of the ballot must contain the words “for” and “against”, under which empty squares are placed.
Citizens of Belarus who have reached the age of 18 have the right to vote in elections of deputies. Persons in custody do not take part in voting.
Information about candidates, the date and place of voting must be provided to voters 10 days before the election date. On election day, voting is carried out from 8.00 to 20.00. At voting stations established in military units, places of temporary stay of voters (in hospitals, sanatoriums, rest homes and other temporary places), precinct commissions may declare voting completed before 20:00 if all voters, referendum participants included in the voting list have voted list.
A voter who is unable to take part in voting on election day has the right, no earlier than five days before the election, under conditions precluding control over his expression of will, to fill out a ballot in the premises of the precinct commission and place it in a sealed separate ballot box for voters. Official confirmation of the reasons for the voter’s inability to come to the polling station on election day is not required.
Early voting is carried out from 12 to 19 hours without a break in the presence of at least two members of the precinct commission. Voters who, for health reasons or other valid reasons, will not be able to come to the voting premises on election day, at their request, can vote at their location.
On election day, the voter comes to the polling station and presents an identification document, receives a ballot, signs in the appropriate column of the voter list, and goes to the voting booth. The voter places any sign in the empty square located to the right of the name of the candidate for whom he votes. If a voter votes against all candidates, he or she places any sign in the empty square located to the right of the line “Against all candidates.”
If the name of only one candidate is included in the ballot, then when voting for the candidate the voter puts any sign in the square under the word “for”, and when voting against the candidate puts any sign in the square under the word “against”. The voter or referendum participant places the completed ballot in the ballot box.
A voter who is unable to fill out a ballot on his own has the right to invite a person he trusts into the booth or room for secret voting. The candidates who received the largest number of votes from voters who took part in the voting are considered elected. When voting on one candidate, a candidate is considered elected if he received more than half of the votes of the voters who took part in the voting. The Central Commission, no later than three days from the date of establishment of the election results, must send to the press for publication a message about the results of the elections of deputies of the House of Representatives and a list of deputies elected in each electoral district, indicating their data.
Repeat elections to the House of Representatives are held if the elections in the electoral district were declared invalid or invalid, if only one candidate ran and did not receive the required number of votes, as well as in the event of the withdrawal of all candidates for deputies. They are appointed by the Central Election Commission no later than three months before they are held. In the event of repeat elections as deputy candidates, citizens in respect of whom a decision was made to cancel their registration as deputy candidates, as well as those who withdrew their candidacies during the elections without good reason, cannot run again.
The first session of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Belarus after the elections is convened by the Central Election Commission and begins its work no later than 30 days after the elections. The thirty-day period for convening and starting the work of the first session starts from the day of elections.
Among other things, he named the head of the presidential administration of Belarus Igor Sergeenko, the Minister of Labor and Social Protection Irina Kostevich, the deputy commander of the country's Air Force and Air Defense Forces Anatoly Bulavko, the head of the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus Mikhail Orda, the leader of the White Russia party Oleg Romanov, the embassy's minister-counselor Belarus in Russia Alexander Shpakovsky, Belarusian athlete Anastasia Mironchik-Ivanova, presidential assistant - inspector for Minsk Alexander Barsukov, head of the department of interaction with the media and editorial activities of the Prosecutor General's Office Anzhelika Kurchak.
According to Karpenko, the list includes the Secretary General of the Belarusian Red Cross, Dmitry Shevtsov, who came under EU sanctions in February. Prior to this, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies suspended the membership of the Belarusian Red Cross due to failure to comply with the requirement to remove its secretary general, who visited Donbass in the summer to deliver humanitarian aid to children who had previously come to Belarus for recovery.
For the first time, elections to the lower house of parliament and local councils of deputies were held on a single voting day. On a single voting day, 12,514 deputies of local councils and 110 deputies of the lower house of parliament were elected for five years. 263 candidates are vying for deputy seats in the lower house of parliament, and 18.8 thousand in local councils. All four registered parties in the country nominated their candidates. Voter turnout was 73.09 percent.
Belaya Rus, led by Oleg Romanov, became the largest force in the 110-member House of Representatives, winning a total of 51 seats. Belaya Rus was initially a public association aimed at supporting the political agenda of President Aleksandr Lukashenko. It was constituted as a political party in March 2023. Three other pro-president parties won fewer than 10 seats each: the Republican Party of Labour and Justice (led by Alexander Khizhnyak), the Communist Party of Belarus (Aliaksei Sokal) and the Liberal Democratic Party of Belarus (Oleg Gaidukevich ). In 2024, 37 women were elected, a decrease from 44 in 2019. On 22 March, the newly elected House of Representatives held its first session. The 2024 elections, which were constitutionally due by 2023, were the first to be held after the 2020 political crisis. The results of the May 2020 presidential elections, which gave President Lukashenko a sixth term in power, triggered massive anti-regime protests amid allegations of large-scale vote rigging. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) noted that, in repressing these protests, the government had committed multiple human rights violations, including the disproportionate use of force, arbitrary arrest and detention, attacks against freedom of expression, and forced exile. They were also the first to be held following the 2022 constitutional amendments. The constitutional amendments reinstated a two-term limit for the president that was lifted in 2004. A President of the Republic who leaves office due to the expiry of their term, or prematurely in the event of their resignation, will be a member of the Council of the Republic (the upper chamber of parliament) for life. The statutory number of the Council of the Republic has thus increased from 64 to 65. However, there is no former President of the Republic, since Mr. Lukashenko has been serving as President since the office was established in 1994. The key electoral issues included relations with Russia, the war in Ukraine, sanctions imposed on Belarus, and the fairness and transparency of the elections. Only observers from other post-Soviet States were invited to monitor the election. This was the first time that observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) did not monitor the election in Belarus. Unlike in previous elections, Belarusians abroad were not able to vote. The minimum turnout to validate the parliamentary elections was dropped. Opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, in exile since 2020, called for the election to be boycotted.
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