More than 65% of Belarusians voted on Sunday in favor of amendments to the constitution proposed by the country’s president, Alexander Lukashenko, announced the central election commission of the former Soviet republic.
The question put to a vote referred to whether or not these amendments would be approved, which would strengthen the powers of Lukashenko, 67, who has ruled Belarus with an iron fist since 1994.
The referendum was held at a time when neighboring Ukraine is the victim of a Russian invasion. The negotiations between Russians and Ukrainians, announced by both sides, are expected to take place on the Belarusian border.
“A total of 65.16% of voters voted in favor of amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus,” announced in the early hours of Monday the chairman of the Belarusian central electoral commission, Igor Karpenko, quoted by Russian news agencies. Another 10.07% voted against.
The participation rate was 78.63%, according to the same source. To be approved, amendments needed to receive more than 50% of the votes, and the referendum was considered valid if there was the participation of more than 50% of voters.
Among the proposed changes are lifetime judicial immunity for former presidents and the introduction of a two-term presidential limit for Lukashenko’s successors.
Belarus’ constitution provided for the country to be a “nuclear-weapon-free zone”, but that article has been changed in the new version proposed by Lukashenko, which does not rule out the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons.
The Belarusian president was re-elected in 2020 in highly criticized elections, which sparked harshly suppressed mass protests.
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