Colonel William A. Phillips

Parliamentary elections were held in Belarus on 14 May 1995 to elect the thirteenth Supreme Council. The elections took place alongside a multi-question referendum, although several further rounds of voting were required on 28 May, 29 November and 10 December.[1] The majority of candidates elected were independents, although 62 seats remained unfilled due to insufficient voter turnout. A total of 2,348 candidates and 22 parties contested the election, around a thousand of which were independents.[2] After the planned two rounds, only 119 of the 260 seats had been filled due to turnouts being too low in some areas. As this was well short of the 174 needed for a quorum, an additional two rounds were necessary. By the fourth round a quorum was reached, and although further rounds of voting were planned for 1996 to fill the remaining seats, following the constitutional amendments made following the referendum and the subsequent formation of a new National Assembly, they were not held.[3]

Foreign observers noted that the elections were not free and fair.[2]

Results

Party First round Second round Third round Fourth round Total
seats
Votes % Seats Votes % Seats Votes % Seats Votes % Seats
Belarusian Party of Communists 3 24 6 10 43
Belarusian Agrarian Party 5 25 3 0 33
People's Accord Party 1 2 0 5 8
United Civic Party 0 0 1 4 5
All-Belarusian Unity and Accord Party 0 0 0 2 2
Belarusian Social Democratic Assembly 0 1 0 1 2
Belarusian Ecological Party 0 0 0 1 1
Belarusian Peasant Party 0 1 0 0 1
Belarusian Popular Party 0 0 0 1 1
Belarusian Party "The Greens" 0 1 0 0 1
Belarusian Socialist Party 0 1 0 0 1
Belarusian Social Sporting Party 0 0 0 1 1
Republican Party of Labour and Justice 0 1 0 0 1
Belarusian Patriotic Movement 0 1 0 0 1
Belarusian Labour Party 0 0 0 1 1
Civic Party 0 0 0 1 1
Belarusian Popular Front 0 0 0 0 0
Belarusian Christian Democratic Union 0 0 0 0 0
Slavic Council 0 0 0 0 0
Beer Lovers Party 0 0 0 0 0
Belarusian National Party 0 0 0 0 0
Liberal Democratic Party 0 0 0 0 0
Belarusian Women's Party "Nadzieja" 0 0 0 0 0
National Democratic Party of Belarus 0 0 0 0 0
Belarusian Scientific-Industrian Congress 0 0 0 0 0
Common Sense Party 0 0 0 0 0
Republican Party 0 0 0 0 0
Independents 9 44 10 32 95
Vacant 62
Total 18 101 20 59 260
Valid votes 4,821,199 3,471,635 2,550,608 1,856,738
Registered voters/turnout 7,445,820 6,138,046 4,154,589 3,545,077
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Aftermath

Following the elections, the MPs from the Belarusian Socialist Party, the Belarusian Labour Party and the Civic Party joined the United Civic Party of Belarus, together with one MP who defected from the Belarusian Party of Communists.[4]

References

  1. ^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p252 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. ^ a b Belarus: Elections held in 1995 Inter-Parliamentary Union
  3. ^ Nohlen & Stöver, pp258-259
  4. ^ Nohlen & Stöver, p261

External links