Belarus’ new constitution has been approved by referendum, Russian news agencies write on the basis of the Election Commission. According to the media, 65 percent of voters voted for the constitutional changes; turnout would be 78 percent.
The website of the Election Commission is not accessible. Other government websites and state news agency Belta have also been unreachable for hours.
The result is not verifiable, because independent observers are not welcome in the country. Elections in the authoritarian-run country of dictator Lukashenko are characterized by large-scale fraud. Human rights organization Viasna already published during the election days countless violations in the voting process.
Lukashenko inviolable
The constitution is being amended on many points and appears to be intended to protect President Lukashenko. For example, (former) presidents cannot be prosecuted for crimes committed during their presidency. It also makes it more complicated to participate in presidential elections. For example, candidates may not have lived abroad in the past 20 years. This excludes the refugee opposition leader Tikhanovskaya from future elections.
The so-called Belarusian People’s Assembly will also gain more power. That is an unelected council of government officials and corporate executives, which will have the power to impeach the president. Analysts are anticipating that Lukashenko will chair the council so that he has control over his successors.
The pursuit of neutrality and a world without nuclear weapons is also removed from the constitution. This makes it possible to place Russian nuclear weapons on Belarus’ territory.
Hundreds of arrests
Opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya had previously called for protests at the polling stations because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which is partly being carried out from Belarus. According to those protests, human rights organization Viasna at least 530 people arrested. The biggest protest was in the capital Minsk, but people also took to the streets in other parts of the country.
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