 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|---|
 Belarusportal |
Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in Belarus on 26 January 2025 under the terms of the constitution. The president is directly elected to serve a five-year term.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |
|---|
| Belarusportal |
Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in Belarus on 26 January 2025 under the terms of the constitution. The president is directly elected to serve a five-year term.
No election in Belarus since 1994 has been deemed free or fair by international observers. [1]
Mass protests alleging widespread vote-rigging erupted after incumbent president Alexander Lukashenko was declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election. Opposition figure Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya subsequently claimed to have won the election and went into exile. [2] [3] [4] [5] Tsikhanouskaya formed government-in-exile institutions consisting of the Coordination Council, created in August 2020, [6] and the United Transitional Cabinet, created in August 2022. [7] [8]
On 17 August 2020, Lukashenko stated that the next presidential election could be held earlier than 2025 if a new constitution were to be adopted. [9] Tsikhanouskaya stated that she was ready to lead a transitional government and to hold early elections under international supervision. [10] [11] Lukashenko also said that he will resign if a new constitution is adopted. [12]
On 23 October 2024, the Central Election Commission of Belarus (CEC) announced that the election would be held on 26 January 2025. [13]
On 6 November 2024, the Viasna Human Rights Centre reported that Belarusian authorities had started a wave of arrests with over a hundred people detained in a week, many linked to online chats, at a time when Belarusian prisons were already overcrowded. [14]
On 25 February 2024, the day of parliamentary elections, Alexander Lukashenko announced his intention to run for a seventh term in 2025. [15] His candidacy, which was submitted by an initiative group, was accepted by the CEC on 29 October. On the same day, the CEC rejected the candidacies of For Freedom movement leader Yuras Hubarevich, citing "violation of the procedure for submitting documents", and Aliaxandar Drazdou. [16] On 4 November, two more candidates were rejected, Diana Kovaleva and Viktor Kulesh, while three other candidates were allowed to begin collecting signatures to support their candidacies, thereby taking the number of candidates with this status to seven. [17] These include Sergei Syrankov of the Communist Party, Oleg Gaidukevich of the Liberal Democratic Party, and former Interior Ministry spokesperson Olga Chеmоdanova. [18] Following the early December deadline to get 100,000 signatures, the CEC said five candidates were approved to stand: [19] [20] [21]
| Candidate | Political party | Current or former position | Signatures |
|---|---|---|---|
 Alexander Lukashenko | Independent | President of Belarus (1994–present) | 2,518,145 |
 Oleg Gaidukevich | Liberal Democratic Party of Belarus | Leader of the LDPB (2019–present) Deputy of the House of Representatives (2019–present) | 134,472 |
| Sergei Syrankov | Communist Party of Belarus | First secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party | 125,577 |
 Hanna Kanapatskaya | Independent | Businesswoman | 121,077 |
| Alexander Khizhnyak | Republican Party of Labour and Justice | Leader of the RPTS | 112,779 |
| Date | Agency | Viktar Babaryka | Alexander Lukashenko | Pavel Latushko | Valery Tsepkalo | Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya | Syarhey Rumas | Sergei Tikhanovsky | Maria Kalesnikava | Vladimir Makei | Zianon Pazniak | Andrey Dmitriyeu | Anatol Liabedzka | Vladimir Karanik | Maxim Znak | Veranika Tsapkala | Natalya Kochanova | Yury Karayeu | Kirill Rudy | Mikola Statkevich | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1–10 Nov 2021 | Chatham House | 19% | 27% | 4% | 4% | 6% | 3% | 3% | 3% | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 30% | 30% | 11% | 8% | 10% | 5% | 8% | 8% | 4% | |||||||||||||
| 23 Jul – 3 Aug 2021 | Chatham House | 22% | 27% | 4% | 3% | 6% | 3% | 2% | 2% | 1% | 2% | 2% | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1% | - |
| 33% | 28% | 10% | 8% | 13% | 6% | 7% | 7% | 2% | 2% | 3% | 2% | ||||||||||
| 20–30 Apr 2021 | Chatham House | 25% | 23% | 8% | 3% | 4% | 3% | 3% | 2% | 1% | 1% | 1% | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2% | - |
| 33% | 25% | 14% | 9% | 10% | 8% | 8% | 8% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 4% | ||||||||||
| 12 Jan – 8 Feb 2021 | Ecoom | 2.5% | 66.5% | 1.3% | - | 1.5% | 0.4% | - | - | 2.4% | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4.4% | - | - | - | Roman Golovchenko 3.8%, Oleg Gaidukevich 1.9% |
| 14–20 Jan 2021 | Chatham House | 28.8% | 27.4% | 12.1% | 3.7% | 4.0% | 4.3% | 5.8% | 4.2% | 2.3% | 1.3% | 1.3% | 0.1% | 0.6% | 0.3% | 0.1% | 0.4% | 0.1% | - | 2.1% | Paval Sieviaryniec 1.0% |
| 35.3% | 23.9% | 18.3% | 9.6% | 11.2% | 7.3% | 8.6% | 8.2% | 4.4% | 2.4% | 2.1% | 0.6% | 1.3% | 0.7% | 0.8% | 1.3% | 1.1% | 0.1% | 4.2% | Paval Sieviaryniec 1.4%, Maksim Bogrecov 0.4% | ||
| 13–18 Nov 2020 | Chatham House | 31.7% | 24.2% | 14.2% | 7.0% | 6.2% | 4.4% | 3.3% | 3.2% | 1.7% | 1.4% | 1.0% | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | - | Ivonka Survilla 0.0% |
| 38.2% | 20.8% | 20.3% | 12.1% | 9.9% | 7.2% | 5.9% | 7.5% | 2.5% | 2.4% | 1.5% | 0.7% | 0.6% | 0.7% | 0.5% | 1.2% | 0.5% | 0.4% | Ivonka Survilla 0.1% |
Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko is a Belarusian politician who has been the first and to date, only president of Belarus since the office's establishment in 1994, making him the current longest-serving head of state in Europe.
The Constitution of the Republic of Belarus is the supreme basic law of Belarus. The Constitution is composed of a preamble and nine sections divided into 146 articles.
The president of the Republic of Belarus is the head of state and head of government of Belarus. The office was created in 1994 with the passing of the Constitution of Belarus by the Supreme Council. This replaced the office of Chairman of the Supreme Council as the head of state. The tasks of the president include executing foreign and domestic policy, defending the rights and general welfare of citizens and residents, and upholding the Constitution. The president is mandated by the Constitution to serve as a leader in the social affairs of the country and to act as its main representative abroad. The duties, responsibilities and other transitional clauses dealing with the presidency are listed in Chapter Three, Articles 79 through 89, of the Constitution.
Presidential elections were held in Belarus on 19 December 2010. The elections had originally been planned for the beginning of 2011. However, the final date was set during an extraordinary session of the National Assembly on 14 September 2010.
Andrei Olegovich Sannikov is a Belarusian politician and activist. In the early 1990s, he headed the Belarusian delegation on Nuclear and Conventional Weapons Armament Negotiations, also serving as a Belarusian diplomat to Switzerland. From 1995 to 1996, he served as Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus, resigning as a form of political protest. He co-founded the civil action Charter 97, and was awarded the Bruno Kreisky Prize in 2005.
Lidia Mikhaylovna Yermoshina is a Belarusian politician. She was a member of the Central Election Commission of Belarus (1992–1996), and Chairwoman (1996–2021).
The Belarusian opposition consists of groups and individuals in Belarus seeking to challenge, from 1988 to 1991, the authorities of Soviet Belarus, and since 1995, the leader of the country Alexander Lukashenko, whom supporters of the movement often consider to be a dictator. Supporters of the movement tend to call for a parliamentary democracy based on a Western model, with freedom of speech and political and religious pluralism.
Presidential elections were held in Belarus on Sunday, 9 August 2020. Early voting began on 4 August and ran until 8 August.
Sergei Leonidovich Tikhanovsky, also transliterated as Syarhey Leanidavich Tsikhanouski, is a Belarusian YouTuber, video blogger, dissident and pro-democracy activist. He is considered by Amnesty International to be a prisoner of conscience. He is known primarily for his activism against the government of Belarus's long-serving president, Alexander Lukashenko. In May 2020, he announced his intention of running for the 2020 presidential election, but he was arrested two days after the announcement, and his wife Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya then ran in place of him as the main rival to Lukashenko in the contested election.
Viktar Dzmitryevich Babaryka is a Belarusian banker, philanthropist, public and opposition political figure who intended to become a candidate in the 2020 Belarusian presidential election. He is considered a political prisoner after having his candidacy rejected, followed by being detained by the Belarusian government over charges of "illegal [financial] activities"; charges that are considered to be politically motivated.
Events in the year 2020 in Belarus.
Sviatlana Hieorhiyeuna Tsikhanouskaya is a Belarusian political activist. After standing as a candidate in the 2020 presidential election against the president Alexander Lukashenko, she has led the political opposition to his authoritarian rule through an oppositional government operating from Lithuania and Poland.
Hanna Anatolyeuna Kanapatskaya or Anna Anatolyevna Kanopatskaya is a Belarusian politician, former MP, lawyer, entrepreneur and candidate in the 2020 Belarusian presidential election. She is also a former parliamentary deputy, represented the United Civic Party of Belarus from 1995 to 2019 and served as an MP from 2016 to 2019. She is known for her political campaign on calling Belarus to be freed from Russian interference.
The Coordination Council, originally known as the Coordination Council for ensuring the transfer of power is a non-governmental body created by presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya to facilitate a democratic transfer of power in Belarus. The council, founded during the 2020 Belarusian protests in response to the disputed 2020 Belarusian presidential election, originally had 64 core members with a 7-member leadership presidium.
National Anti-Crisis Management (NAM) is a "shadow-government-like" organisation created in Belarus by Pavel Latushko in late October 2020 during the 2020 Belarusian protests with approval of the Belarusian Coordination Council. In 2022, a complementary cabinet structure, the United Transitional Cabinet, was created, with Latushko holding responsibility for the transition of power.
A constitutional referendum was held in Belarus on 27 February 2022. The referendum was ordered by President Alexander Lukashenko in January 2022. According to political analysts, changes to the Belarusian constitution were intended to solidify the power of Lukashenko's regime after the mass protests in 2020 and 2021, which challenged his rule and was brutally suppressed by police. More than 35,000 people were arrested, 1,070 of whom are acknowledged political prisoners. The changes to the Constitution allow Lukashenko to remain in office until 2035 and empower the All-Belarusian People's Assembly, an extra-parliamentary body dominated by government supporters. The changes also renounced Belarus's nuclear-free zone status, allowing Belarus to host nuclear weapons for the first time since the fall of the Soviet Union; the lead-up to the referendum occurred as Russia amassed its troops in both Russia and Belarus in the prelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the election itself was held several days after Russia began its military offensive into Ukraine.
The United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus is a government in exile for Belarus that was formed in August 2022.
Valery Kavaleuski is a Belarusian diplomat and politician. On 9 August 2022, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya appointed Kavaleuski as Deputy Head and Representative for Foreign Affairs in the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus that is opposed to the de facto government of Alexander Lukashenko.
Valery Stepanovich Sakhashchyk is a former commander of the Belarusian 38th Separate Guards Air Assault Brigade. Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Sakhashchyk launched video appeals calling for Belarusian forces to refuse to participate in any attack against Ukraine. From 9 August 2022 to 1 August 2024, he was the effective defence minister of the Belarusian United Transitional Cabinet, a government-in-exile opposed to the de facto government of Alexander Lukashenko.
Parliamentary elections were held in Belarus on 25 February 2024. The country elected 110 deputies to the lower house of parliament and about 12,000 representatives of local councils.
| Presidential elections | |
|---|---|
| Parliamentary elections | |
| Municipal elections | |
| Referendums | |
