BELARUSSIAN VOTERS DECIDE LUKASHENKO'S FUTURE

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MINSK, October 17 (RIA Novosti) - Today's election to the House of Representatives of the National Assembly (the lower house of Belarussian parliament) is held on the same day as the referendum on the termination of maximal term that one person can stay in office as President, currently restricted by the Constitution as two terms, five years each.

To amend the Constitution, more than 50% of registered voters must vote for the move, which makes about seven million people across the country.

The amendment was submitted by incumbent Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko whose ten years in office will expire in 2006. The message of the move is to suggest that the Belarussian people decide whether Lukashenko deserves running for presidency for the third time in a row.

The 6,659 polling stations across the nation will close at 20:00 local time (21:00 Moscow time). Many people voted in advance through the past week.

Lawmakers in Belarus are elected by majority vote in 110 constituencies; 353 candidates are running, almost half of them nominated by political parties.

The parliament's term of office in Belarus is four years. A candidate must secure more than half of the cast vote to win the constituency election. In the event no one succeeds, a runoff election between two most successful candidates is held in a fortnight after the first round.

While most opposition parties boycotted the previous Belarussian parliamentary election of 2000 for its allegedly anti-democratic character, all of them are running this time.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe will deploy 130 observers at the parliamentary election; the CIS has deployed 150 observers; about 20,000 Belarussian observers are also there.

Mr. Lukashenko initiated two referendums in post-Soviet Belarus: in 1995, the citizens agreed to adopt back the Soviet-time state symbols, declare the Russian language official as well as the Belarussian language, and start integration with Russia. In the second referendum in 1996, the President secured his nation's approval in dismissing the opposition Supreme Council, granting more powers to the President, prolonging Lukashenko's term in office by two years, and abolishing death penalty.

The Venice Commission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe declared that the current Belarussian referendum was non-compliant with European democratic standards. Russia treats the referendum as Belarus's internal affair.

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