Final results of Belarus' referendum: 82.86% of voters supported new Constitution

The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Belarus has approved the results of the constitutional referendum, BelTA has learned.

The Central Election Commission received all seven protocols of voting results from the oblast election commissions and the Minsk city election commission. In accordance with Article 121 of the Electoral Code, the results of the national referendum were summed up at a meeting of the Central Election Commission.

In addition, copies of voting protocols of district, municipal, city district election commissions were submitted to the Central Election Commission for verification.

The constitutional referendum was held in Belarus on 27 February in line with the presidential decree. Voters saw only one question in the ballot paper: do you accept amendments and additions to the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus? Voters were asked to vote ‘for' or ‘against'.

“Based on the protocols of the oblast election commissions and the Minsk city election commission, the Central Election Commission has established the following: the total number of eligible voters was 6,815,635. A total of 5,359,403 people took part in the voting. The turnout was 78.63%. Of these, 2,922,738 people voted early. A total of 336,159 people voted at the place of residence; 2,100,506 people came to polling stations on election day,” Secretary of the Central Election Commission Yelena Baldovskaya said.

A total of 4,440,830 people (82.86%) voted in favor of the constitutional amendments, which is 65.16% of citizens on the electoral register.

“The number of citizens who voted against the new Constitution draft was 684,946 (12.78% of the referendum participants),” Yelena Baldovskaya noted. Some 4.36% of the ballots were declared invalid.

Members of the Central Election Commission signed a protocol on the referendum results and adopted a corresponding resolution.