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2004 Belarusian constitutional referendum

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2004 Belarusian constitutional referendum
17 October 2004 (2004-10-17)
Do you allow the first President of the Republic of Belarus Lukashenko A.G. to participate as a candidate for the President of the Republic of Belarus in the presidential elections and do you accept the first part of Article 81 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus as follows:

"The President is elected for five years directly by the people of the Republic of Belarus on the basis of universal, free, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot." ?
Results
Choice Votes %
Yes 5,548,477 88.91%
No 691,917 11.09%
Valid votes 6,240,394 98.94%
Invalid or blank votes 67,001 1.06%
Total votes 6,307,395 100.00%
Registered voters/turnout 6,986,163 90.28%
Politics of Belarus

Commonwealth of Independent States CIS Member State

Constitution
PresidencyPresident
Alexander Lukashenko
ExecutivePrime Minister
Roman Golovchenko
National AssemblyNational Assembly
All-Belarusian People's AssemblyAll-Belarusian People's Assembly
Judiciary
Administrative divisions
ElectionsPresidential elections

Parliamentary elections

Foreign relationsMinistry of Foreign Affairs
Minister: Sergei Aleinik
flag Belarus portal

A referendum on allowing President Lukashenko to stand in further elections was held in Belarus on 17 October 2004, alongside parliamentary elections. Lukashenko was nearing the end of his constitutionally-limited two terms, and the change would allow him to run for a third term.

In accordance with article 140 of the constitution, a majority of valid votes as well as a majority of registered voters in favor of the constitutional changes were required for the result to be deemed valid

The result was 88.91% of valid votes and 79.42% of registered voters in favor, with a turnout of 90.28%.

Results

Do you permit the first President of the Republic of Belarus Lukashenko A.G. to participate as a candidate for Presidency of the Republic of Belarus during the President elections and do you adopt the Part I of Article 81 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus in the following wording:

President is elected for the term of 5 years directly by the people of the Republic of Belarus by means of the universal, free, equal and direct suffrage under the voting by secret ballot?
Choice Votes %
For 5,548,477 88.9
Against 691,917 11.1
Invalid/blank votes 67,001 –
Total 6,307,395 100
Registered voters/turnout 6,986,163 90.3
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Controversy

Paragraph 112 of Belarusian Electoral Code lists "questions connected with election and dismissal of the President of the Republic of Belarus" among questions prohibited from being brought out to the Republican referendum. There were several arrests of protesters against the result and reports of oppositional leaders being beaten by police.

References

  1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p252 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. "Weissrussland (Belarus), 17. Oktober 2004 : Alexander Lukaschenka als Kandidat für das Präsidentenamt und unbegrenzte Wiederwahl des Präsidenten -- [en allemand]".
  3. Nohlen & Stöver, p257
  4. "Electoral Code of the Republic of Belarus". The National Center of Legal Information of the Republic of Belarus. Archived from the original on 2011-08-23. Retrieved 2012-01-11.
  5. "Dozens arrested at Belarus rally". BBC News. 2004-10-19. Retrieved 2010-12-20.

External links

Belarus Elections and referendums in Belarus
Presidential elections
Parliamentary elections
Municipal elections
Referendums
See also: Elections and referendums in the Soviet Union
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