Belarusian parliamentary election, 2008

A parliamentary election was held in Belarus on 28 September 2008. [http://law.by/work/EnglPortal.nsf/0/7D8EBB293D28CA2CC22574BE004E3248?OpenDocument] The 110 seats in the House of Representatives were at stake. [http://law.by/work/EnglPortal.nsf/0/F944D00B0205AA4EC22574B400429894?OpenDocument "276 candidates for House of Representatives registered in Belarus"] , law.by, 29 August 2008.]

Lidia Yermoshina, the Chairperson of the Central Election Commission, announced on 29 August that 276 candidates were registered for the election. 365 people initially sought to run, but five withdrew and candidate registration for 84 others was rejected. Just prior to the election, the number of the registered candidates was reduced to 263; [cite web
title = ru icon В белорусский парламент баллотируется 263 кандидата
publisher = REGNUM News Agency
date = 2008-09-26
url = http://www.regnum.ru/news/1060871.html
accessdate = 2008-09-28] 82 of the candidates were members of political parties, the others were non-partisans loyal to the government. They included chief executives of local authorities and medical institutions, and top managers of large enterprises. [http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/6508695.html] The election was attempted to be monitored by 925 international and more than 17000 local observers, [cite web
title = ru icon 925 международных и более 17 000 национальных наблюдателей будут контролировать ход выборов в Белоруссии
publisher = REGNUM News Agency
date = 2008-09-27
url = http://www.regnum.ru/news/1061121.html
accessdate = 2008-09-28] including an OSCE mission consisting of some 450 members from 43 countries. [cite web
title = OSCE election observers to present findings at press conference in Minsk on Monday
publisher = OSCE
date = 2008-09-26
url = http://www.osce.org/item/33229.html
accessdate = 2008-09-28] Belarusian citizens abroad were able to cast their votes at 40 polling stations located in 31 countries. [cite web
title = ru icon За пределами Белоруссии образованы 40 участков для голосования на парламентских выборах
publisher = REGNUM News Agency
date = 2008-09-26
url = http://www.regnum.ru/news/1060984.html
accessdate = 2008-09-28] Advance voting occurred on September 23–26 and was characterized by active participation: more than 26% of registered voters cast their ballots. [cite web
title = ru icon ЦИК Белоруссии: Более 26% избирателей проголосовали досрочно
publisher = REGNUM News Agency
date = 2008-09-28
url = http://www.regnum.ru/news/1061207.html
accessdate = 2008-09-28] According to the preliminary results, the total turnout was 75.3%. [cite web
title = ru icon ЦИК Белоруссии подтверждает высокую явку на парламентских выборах в Белоруссии - 75,3%
publisher = REGNUM News Agency
date = 2008-09-28
url = http://www.regnum.ru/news/1061270.html
accessdate = 2008-09-28]

According to OSCE, the elections were undemocratic and the work of international observers was seriously hindered as the observers were refused access to the facilities where the votes were counted. OSCE observers also add that the election rules of Belarus were not violated. [ cite web | title = de icon OSZE-Beobachter kritisieren Ablauf der Parlamentswahl
publisher = Der Spiegel
date = 2008-09-29
url = http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,581151,00.html
accessdate = 2008-09-30] But according to the CIS Mission of Observers, the elections in Belarus conformed to international standards. [ [http://law.by/work/EnglPortal.nsf/0/89452FE328F40067C22574D3003DECEE?OpenDocument CIS observers: Belarus’ elections meet international standards] ]

The Belaya Rus party, founded to support Lukashenko and modelled after the United Russia party, contested the election for the first time.

Results

According to the official results the oppositional parties failed to gain any of the 110 available seats, all of which were given to parties and non-partisan candidates loyal to president Alexander Lukashenko. The Central Election Commission declared this to be due to the overwhelming popular fear of mass demonstrations and of the "radical political changes" demanded by the opposition. This declaration was met with immediate anti-governmental demonstrations in the centre of Minsk protesting against electoral fraud. President Lukashenko commented that the opposition in Belarus is financed by foreign countries and is not needed. [cite web
title = de icon Opposition gewinnt keinen einzigen Sitz - Proteste in Weißrussland
publisher = Der Spiegel
date = 2008-09-29
url = http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,581019,00.html
accessdate = 2008-09-30]

References

External links

* [http://naviny.by/rubrics/inter/2008/02/08/ic_news_259_285306/ Sole entrepreneurs will nominate their representatives for this fall’s parliamentary elections]
* [http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=117973236834482065831.000457655c9a7845a9b6a&ll=54.007769,26.872559&spn=6.226695,14.150391&z=6 Parliamentary Election in Belarus 2008 on Google Maps]
* [http://www.kas.de/proj/home/pub/115/1/year-2008/dokument_id-14590/index.html Writing how Democrate elections is being done]
* [http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=153729&bolum=100 second Writing how Democrate elections is being done]
* [http://www.rferl.org/content/Pushing_Belarus_Toward_Slight_Improvement/1201139.html Improvements of Democracy in Belarus News]
* [http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Security-Watch/Detail/?ots591=4888CAA0-B3DB-1461-98B9-E20E7B9C13D4&lng=en&id=92305 Belarus' election paradox by Natalia Leshchenko]

Election observers

* [http://www.osce.org/documents/odihr/2008/09/33034_en.pdf First report of OSCE (Athmosphere before elections)]