Presidential Election Kicks Off In Belarus

MINSK, Jan 26 (Bernama-Xinhua) -- The presidential election kicked off in Belarus on Sunday with polling stations opening at 8.00 am (0500 GMT) and closing at 8 pm (1700 GMT), reported Xinhua.

Five candidates, including incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko, have been registered for the presidential election.

Voters will cast their ballots at 5,325 polling stations nationwide and the number of voters stands at about 6.9 million, according to the country's Central Election Commission.

Elections are considered valid if more than half of the citizens included in the voter list cast their ballots. The head of state is considered elected if a candidate is supported by more than half of the voters who took part in the voting.

Early voting for the country's presidential election took place from January 21 to 25. The Central Election Commission said on Saturday that 41.81 per cent of eligible voters have cast their ballots during the five-day early voting session, which is organised for those unable to vote on the election day.  

Meanwhile, The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has labelled the presidential election in Belarus a "sham”, according to German news agency dpa.

The outcome of the vote is all but certain, with authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko set to appointed for a seventh term.

Lukashkenko had "clung to power" for 30 years, Kallas said in a post on X.

"He’ll reappoint himself in yet another sham election. This is a blatant affront to democracy," she wrote.

"Lukashenko doesn’t have any legitimacy."

-- BERNAMA-AGENCIES