Over 5,300 polling stations have begun work for the presidential elections in Belarus on the main day of voting, the Central Election Commission (CEC) of the republic announced.
The commission explains that about 6.9 million Belarusian voters will be able to vote in 5,325 polling stations, of which 207 are organized in hospitals, sanatoriums, rest homes and other temporary accommodation facilities, and another 12 in military units. Voting ends at 8:00 p.m.
The elections are considered valid if more than half of the voters included in the voting lists participate in the vote. According to the Central Election Commission, 41.81% of voters participated in the early voting, which took place between January 21 and 25. The president will be considered elected if more than half of the citizens who participated in the vote vote for him. The campaign is being monitored by over 44,000 national and almost 500 international observers.
Rivals of the current head of state Alexander Lukashenko in the elections are the chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party Oleg Gaidukevich, businessman Anna Kanopatskaya, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party Sergei Syrankov, and the chairman of the Republican Party of Labor and Justice Alexander Khizhnyak.
In the 2020 presidential election, voter turnout was 84.28%, of which 41.70% voted early. Then 80.10% of the citizens who participated in the vote voted for Lukashenko.