2015 presidential election in Belarus

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Standard of the President of the Republic of Belarus

The 2015 presidential election in Belarus took place on October 11th.

Aljaksandr Lukashenka
Tatsiana Karatkewitsch

background

It was the fifth presidential election since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the establishment of an independent Belarusian state in 1991. All four previous elections were won by Aljaksandr Lukashenka (in German-language media mostly in Russian transcription: Alexander Lukashenko), and 2015 was also won before Lukashenka expects a victory after the election of observers. Western observers did not consider the election to be free and in line with democratic standards. The media are largely controlled by the government. The opposition is severely hindered in its free expression of opinion by multiple harassment by the government (arbitrary arrests for pretext reasons). In the election, the incumbent Lukashenka faced three other candidates. Two of them (Sjarhej Hajdukewitsch and Mikalaj Ulachowitsch) were widely viewed as bogus candidates and Lukashenka followers. The only clear opposition candidate is Tatsiana Karatkewitsch , who is also the only woman running. The opposition criticized Karatkevich's candidacy as it would give the election a bogus democratic alibi. There was hardly any election campaign for the same reasons, since the opposition did not take an active part. There was no open boycott call, as this would be illegal in Belarus.

Western reporters describe the population of Belarus as relatively largely politically disinterested and apathetic. Many Belarusians would take the developments in neighboring Ukraine (the Maidan Revolution and the undeclared war in eastern Ukraine ) as a cautionary example and fear changes. Lukashenka, on the other hand, is at least a guarantee for political stability.

Shortly before the election, the EU announced that it would lift a number of sanctions against Lukashenka and around 140 people in his leadership for 4 months. The sanctions included entry bans and the ban on money transfers. With the suspension, Lukashenka's amnesty of 6 political prisoners in prison in August 2015 and his constructive mediating role in the peace talks in eastern Ukraine should be recognized. Political commentators also saw the move as an admission that the previous EU sanctions policy had not had any major effects on the internal democratization of the country. They also do not want to drive Lukashenka too much into the hands of Russian President Putin, but rather support his cautious approaches to Europe. However, the EU warned that the sanctions could be reactivated in the event of repeated human rights violations.

Candidates

candidate details Initiative group Signatures
submitted 		Signatures
valid
Members leader
Aljaksandr Lukashenka President of Belarus 10577 Mikhail Orda 1761145 1753380 (99.55%)
Sjarhej Kalyakin Chairman of the Belarusian United Left Party "Just World" 1510 Walery Uchnaljou 48 0
Syarhej Hajdukewitsch Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party 2481 Anatol Chishchanka 140735 139877 (99.39%)
Tatsiana Karatkewitsch Representative of the coalition "Referendum", activist of the " Tell the truth " movement 1993 Andrei Dmitryjeu 107299 105278 (98.11%)
Anatol Ljabedska Chairman of the United Citizens' Party 977 Wiktar Karniyenka - 0
Viktor Tsareshchanka Economist and former presidential candidate for 2010 election 946 Aleh Neszjarkou 130404 6699 (5.13%)
Shanna Ramanouskaya Unemployed teacher from Brest 110 Jauhen Naporka 780 N / A
Mikalaj Ulachowitsch Chairman of the Belarusian Patriotic Party, Ataman of the NGO "Belarusian Cossacks" 1426 Michail Wobrasau 159805 149819 (93.75%)

Opinion polls

Date and agency Lukashenka Karatkevich Statkevich Nyakljajeu Ljabedska Hajdukevich Kalyakin Ulachowitsch
March 31, 2015 - NISEPI 34.2% - 4.5% 7.6% 2.9% 1.1% 1.6% -
July 1, 2015 - NISEPI 38.6% 1.1% 5% 4.7% 4.2% 3.9% 3.1% -
September 30, 2015 - NISEPI 47% 17.9% - - - 11.4% - 3.6%

Counterfeit allegations

Advertising poster for the presidential election in the outline of Belarus

In Hrodna , all 11,509 signatures for Viktor Tsareshchanka's candidacy were declared null and void. The results of the verification of the signatures for the nomination of the candidates showed that the number of collected signatures for Tsareshchanka was oversubscribed by 20 times, while for the remaining candidates, who collected more than 100,000 signatures, the percentage of valid signatures was 93.75% was up to 99.55%.

Early voting

According to the Central Election Commission, 36.05% of voters cast their votes early. This is the highest figure ever (in 2010 23.1% of voters voted before election day and in 2006 31.3% of voters).

Official final results

The official final results were announced on October 12, 2015. With 83.47%, the majority of the votes went to Aljaksandr Lukashenka, who was able to take up his fifth term in office.

Official election results
No. Administrative area Registered
voters 		Votes cast Syarhej Hajdukewitsch Tatsiana Karatkewitsch Aljaksandr Lukashenka Mikalaj Ulachowitsch Votes against
all 4 candidates
number % number % number % number % number %
1 Brest Oblast 1,004,274 907.789 90.39 21,299 2.35 48,305 5.32 782.738 86.22 10,720 1.18 38,407
2 Vitebsk Oblast 876.896 798,659 91.00 30,939 3.87 28,799 3.61 697.035 87.28 11,171 1.40 25,935
3 Gomel Oblast 1,101,235 995.989 90.44 42,130 4.23 22,626 2.27 874.413 87.79 16,829 1.69 31,663
4th Hrodna Oblast 779,638 689.824 88.48 15,691 2.27 32,755 4.75 592,490 85.89 7092 1.03 34,169
5 Minsk Oblast Region 1,116,445 1.001.041 89.66 32,128 3.21 44,155 4.41 858.287 85.73 21,763 2.17 37,552
6th Mahiljou Oblast 816.030 742.263 90.96 27.173 3.66 25,652 3.46 655.396 88.29 7928 1.07 19,443
7th Minsk city 1.314.164 977.448 74.38 32,585 3.33 69,134 7.07 642.119 65.69 26,628 2.72 199.056
total 7,008,682 6,113,013 87.22 201,945 3.30 271.426 4.44 5,102,478 83.47 102.131 1.67 386.225

Web links

Official speeches of the candidates:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from July 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / eng.belta.by
  2. ^ Paul Moss: Belarus president set to win fifth consecutive election. BBC News, January 10, 2015, accessed January 11, 2015 .
  3. ↑ Birgt Virnich: Weltspiegel on elections in Belarus: Hope for the time after the dictator. tagesschau.de, October 11, 2015, archived from the original on October 13, 2015 ; accessed on October 11, 2015 .
  4. ^ Robin Emmott, Alastair Macdonald: Exclusive: EU set to suspend Belarus sanctions for four months after vote. Reuters, October 9, 2015, accessed October 11, 2015 .
  5. ^ Daniel McLaughlin: EU set to ease sanctions on Belarusian regime after elections. The Irish Times, October 10, 2015, accessed October 11, 2015 .
  6. ↑ http://rec.gov.by/sites/default/files/pdf/Elections-PRB2015-Elect7.pdf
  7. ↑ Preliminary data about true signatures to nominate candidates for Belarus presidency released ( Memento from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ from 10 thousand to 110: how many people signed up for the initiative groups of candidates
  9. ↑ http://rec.gov.by/sites/default/files/pdf/Elections-PRB2015-Inf4.pdf
  10. ↑ http://rec.gov.by/sites/default/files/pdf/Elections-PRB2015-Inf5.pdf
  11. ↑ http://rec.gov.by/sites/default/files/pdf/Elections-PRB2015-Inf6.pdf
  12. ↑ http://rec.gov.by/sites/default/files/pdf/Elections-PRB2015-Inf8.pdf
  13. ↑ http://rec.gov.by/sites/default/files/pdf/Elections-PRB2015-Inf9.pdf
  14. ↑ http://rec.gov.by/sites/default/files/pdf/Elections-PRB2015-Inf15.pdf
  15. ↑ http://rec.gov.by/sites/default/files/pdf/Elections-PRB2015-Inf11.pdf
  16. ↑ http://rec.gov.by/sites/default/files/pdf/Elections-PRB2015-Inf16.pdf
  17. ↑ http://www.racyja.com/palityka/za-tsyareshchanku-padpisvalisya-navat/
  18. ↑ Elections 2015. ZWK publishes credible information about signatures for candidates ( memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / deu.belta.by
  19. ↑ http://news.tut.by/politics/468046.html
  20. ↑ Республика Беларусь. (PDF) Retrieved October 12, 2015 (Belarusian).