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Updated November 17th, 2019 at 19:34 IST

Belarus conducts parliamentary elections

Belarus will head to polls on Sunday, November 17, where the 110 seats in the lower house are being contested by more than 500 candidates

Reported by: Nisha Qureshi
Belarus
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Belarus will head to polls on Sunday. The west is keeping a close watch to see how much leeway President Alexander Lukashenko will grant opposition candidates. The 110 seats in the lower house are being contested by more than 500 candidates. Earlier, more than 200 candidates from the opposition were barred, for allegedly not submitting enough documents.

READ | Trump to attend NATO summit in London, days before UK vote

Two opposition members elected in 110 member parliament

At the last parliamentary elections, in 2016, President Alexander Lukashenko allowed two opposition candidates to win seats in the 110-member parliament for the first time in two decades.  A report by the Electoral Integrity Project, reviewing worldwide elections for 2015 and released in February 2016, evaluated Belarus as a state "failing to meet international standards of electoral integrity." There are some 6.88 million eligible voters, according to the country's electoral authority. The Presidential elections in 2010 had Lukashenko claim a fourth straight term with 80 per cent votes. The runner-up opposition leader Andrei Sannikov received less than 3% of the vote; independent observers criticized the election as fraudulent.

READ | Belarus shows interest to modernise Kolkata's iconic Tramways

Changing international ties

In September, the U.S and Belarus announced they would resume their ambassadorial relations for the first time since 2008. In 2016, the U.S. and European Union sanctions imposed on the country over its treatment of political opponents were mostly lifted. Washington also indicated it might return to provide sanctions to Belarus depending on the results of parliamentary elections 2020  and the Presidential votes. However, the relations with Moscow hit a set back after Minsk refused to recognise Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in 2014. Moscow had cut subsidies to Belarus in retaliation. On Sunday, Lukashenko threatened to pull out of signing a roadmap to bring their economies closer together that could include a unified tax code and a single regulator of oil, gas and electricity markets.

On 15 February 2016, the European Union announced the easing of sanctions against Belarus during a meeting by 28 EU foreign ministers at a regular session of the Council of the European Union. 

READ | Belarus holds vote, ignores blatant ballot box stuffing

READ | London police probe Brexit Party’s election fraud claims

(With inputs from agencies)

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Published November 17th, 2019 at 16:09 IST

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