Two-Thirds Turnout for Belarus Election

The turnout reached just under two-thirds nationally in Belarus' parliamentary elections on Sunday, with the authorities proclaiming the poll a success and the opposition saying it was a farce, RIAN reports.

Central Election Commission representative Lidia Yermoshina said she was pleased with how the election had gone, after the polls closed at 8 p.m. local time.

The elections to Belarus’ National Assembly, its lower house of parliament, will elect 110 candidates from 293 candidates, each from one district.

The opposition claims the Belarus parliament has turned into a “pocket” chamber that rubber-stamps President Alexander Lukashenko’s directives.

Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron fist since 1994, was reelected in disputed polls in December 2010. Dozens of opposition figures, including political rivals, were arrested after violent protests in Minsk following the announcement of the presidential result.