Enough residents voted in otherwise-boycotted Parliamentary elections in Belarus to make the results valid, the country’s Central Election Commission has declared. The commission ruled Sunday that more than 50 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in the elections for all 110 seats in the Belarus National Assembly, the nation’s lower house of Parliament, RIA Novosti reported. The country’s two main opposition parties — the United Civic and BPF parties –boycotted the polls because of alleged fraud, urging voters to skip what they called “pseudo-elections” for the “rubber-stamp” lower house.
Opponents of President Alexander Lukashenko contend Parliament has lost its independence since he took power in 1994. The absence of the two parties and their members was seen as a possible problem for Lukashenko but the Central Election Commission said Sunday the 50 percent threshold was met. “The appearance of half of the voters on the list allows us to declare the election valid,” the commission said in a statement, asserting turnout was 65.9 percent by 6 p.m. Sunday. Turnout was weakest in Minsk, where just 39.7 percent voted, the commission said.
A statement issued by the two main opposition parties as well as Belarusian left party Fair World, the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Gromada), For Freedom movement and the Speak the Truth civil campaign urged the international community to disregard the elections, the Russian news agency reported.
Full Article: Boycotted Belarus election declared valid – UPI.com.
