23 September 2012
Polling stations in Belarus parliament elections closed
MINSK, 23 September (BelTA) – The voting process to elect members of the fifth-convocation House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus ended at 20:00, BelTA has learned. All the 6,344 polling stations of Belarus have closed. The polling station commissions are now busy counting votes. The elections have been recognized valid in all the 110 constituencies. Belarus uses a majority election system. Over 50% of the registered voters have to take part in elections for the elections to be recognized valid. As of 18:00 the voter turnout stood at 65.9%. There were a total of 7,078,809 registered voters in Belarus. A nominee has to win over 50% of the votes in a constituency in order to win the election in the first round. As many as 110 members of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly are to be elected, with 293 candidates competing for the seats.БЕЛТА