| Parliament name (generic / translated) |
Natsionalnoye Sobranie / National Assembly |
| Structure of parliament |
Bicameral |
| Chamber name (generic / translated) |
Palata Predstaviteley / House of Representatives |
| Related chamber (for bicameral parliaments) |
Soviet Respubliki / Council of the Republic
|
| BACKGROUND |
| Dates of election / renewal (from/to) |
28 September 2008 |
| Purpose of elections |
Elections were held for all the seats in the House of Representatives on the normal expiry of the members' term of office.
|
On 24 June 2008
President Alexander Lukashenko issued a presidential decree calling elections to the House of Representatives for 28 September.
In the previous elections held in October 2004
96 nominally independent candidates were elected
with the remainder representing pro-presidential political parties. None of the 104 candidates from the opposition Popular Coalition Five Plus (see note) were elected.
A total of 263 candidates and eight parties contested the 2008 elections.
Four pro-presidential parties backed a total of 24 candidates: the Communist Party of Belarus (15 candidates)
the Liberal Democratic Party (seven)
the Republican Party of Labour and Justice (one) and the Belarusian Agrarian Party (one). Other pro-presidential candidates ran as independents.
The United Democratic Force
the opposition coalition formed during the 2006 presidential elections
remained the main opposition force in 2008. It fielded 75 candidates. The coalition included the United Civic Party (UCP
13 candidates) of Mr. Anatoly Lebedko
the Belarusian People's Front (BPF) Revival Party
Mr. Sergei Kalyakin's Party of Communists of Belarus (PCB
nine candidates)
and the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Hramada
eight candidates)
led by Mr. Anatoly Levkovich since August 2008. In the same month
former Hramada leader
Mr. Alexander Kozulin who had been sentenced to five and a half years' imprisonment in 2006 after staging a protest against President Lukashenko was released from prison.
In mid August
five UCP candidates in the capital Minsk announced that they would withdraw from the elections
citing obstacles encountered in their campaigning. On 30 August
the BPF
which had seen the candidatures of its two deputy chairmen rejected
announced that the party would withdraw all its candidates before polling day
criticizing the "undemocratic nature" of the elections. The government stated that the electoral process was 'open and transparent'. The candidature of the leader of an unregistered opposition coalition
the European Coalition
Mr. Mikalay Statkevich
was rejected in a Supreme Court ruling of 9 September due to a previous conviction for unauthorized demonstrations against the results of the 2004 parliamentary elections.
A total of 76.74 per cent of the 7 million registered voters turned out at the polls.
The Organisation for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) sent 465 and 368 observers respectively to monitor the polls. The OSCE declared that the elections fell short of OSCE commitments for democratic elections. However
it noted some improvements such as the slightly increased access of opposition representatives to election commissions and the decision to allow fairer access for all candidates to prime time television..It nevertheless criticized a "barely visible election campaign"
which it deemed to be strictly controlled by the government. The CIS and the Central Election Commission said the elections had been "free and open".
Final results gave six seats to the Communist Party and one to the Agrarian Party. In all 30 outgoing members were returned. Other elected candidates included 32 managers of State owned companies and institutions
and 17 State officials. No opposition members were elected. The UCP rejected the election results.
The newly elected House of Representatives held its first session on 27 October and elected Mr. Vladimir Andreichenko as its new Speaker. Mr. Boris Batura was elected as the new President of the Council of the Republic on 31 October. Indirect elections for this chamber had taken place between 3 and 10 October.
Note:
The Popular Coalition Five Plus comprised five opposition parties: the Belarusian Popular Front
the Belarus Social Democratic Party
the Party of Communists of Belarus
the Belarusian Social Democratic Party
and the United Civic Party. |
| STATISTICS |
| Voter turnout |
| Round no 1 | 28 September 2008 |
Number of registered electors
Voters
Blank or invalid ballot papers
Valid votes |
7'016'711
5'384'647 (76.74%)
114'029
5'270'618 |
|
Notes
|
|
| Distribution of seats |
|
Round no 1
|
| Political Group |
Total
|
|
|
|
|
| Non-partisan members |
103
|
|
|
|
|
| Communist Party of Belarus |
6
|
|
|
|
|
| Agrarian Party |
1
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Distribution of seats according to sex |
Men
Women
Percent of women |
75
35
31.82%
|
| Distribution of seats according to age |
31 to 40 years
41 to 50 years
51 to 60 years
61 to 70 years
|
6
23
73
8
|
| Distribution of seats according to profession |
| State authorities |
29 |
| Other |
14 |
| Industry
building and transport workers |
13 |
| Education |
11 |
| Health care service |
9 |
| Agriculture |
2 |
| Culture |
2 |
|
| Comments |
Note:
Data refers to the 80 new members. Among them 32 heads of enterprises
institutions
organizations; 17 heads of local representative
executive and administrative bodies; and two Leaders of Political Parties. Thirty deputies were reelected.
Sources:
- IPU Group (03.11.2008)
- House of Representatives (12.11.2008
19.02.2009)
- http://www.belta.by |
Compare data for parliamentary chambers in the Last elections module
