Belarus: Belarusian presidential elections began on Sunday with current President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power for 30 years, seeking to retain his top position. The local Central Election Commission (CEC) mentioned that polls opened at 8 a.m. local time and will remain open until 8 p.m.
According to Kuwait News Agency, four candidates are competing against Lukashenko, including Liberal Democrats chairperson Oleg Gaidukevich, Sergei Sirankov, first secretary of the Communist Party's Central Committee, Anna Kanapatskaya, a former member of parliament, and Alexander Khizhnyak, chairperson of the Republican Labor Party. More than half of eligible voters, some 6.9 million, cast their votes in the 5,325 polling stations distributed across the country.
CEC data indicate that the participation rate in early elections reached 41.81 percent of total voters. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Observer Mission revealed no violations during the five days of early voting for the presidential election in Belarus, SCO Secretary-General Nurlan Yermekbayev told Russian news agency, RIA Novosti. Members of the mission started their work during the early voting period, but they cannot make any official statement yet, as they will form it after the voting process is over.
Belarusian presidents are elected for a five-year term with a majority vote system. Candidates should be Belarusian born, no younger than 40 years old, and have been permanently residing in the country for at least 20 years. Observers and nationals alike are awaiting election results as it sets out to be a test for the state's political system.