| Country: | Belarus |
| Previous Election: | 2019 |
| Seats For Election: | All 110 seats in the House of Representatives |
| Majority Seats: | 56 |
| Turnout: | 73.09% |
| Election Date: | 25 February 2024 |
| Nopercentage: | yes |
| Leader1: | Oleg Romanov |
| Party1: | Belaya Rus |
| Last Election1: | new |
| Seats1: | 51 |
| Party2: | Republican Party of Labour and Justice |
| Last Election2: | 6 |
| Seats2: | 8 |
| Leader3: | Aliaksiej Sokal |
| Party3: | Communist Party of Belarus |
| Last Election3: | 11 |
| Seats3: | 7 |
| Leader4: | Oleg Gaidukevich |
| Party4: | Liberal Democratic Party of Belarus |
| Last Election4: | 1 |
| Seats4: | 4 |
| Leader5: | – |
| Party5: | Independents |
| Last Election5: | 89 |
| Seats5: | 40 |
| Speaker of the House of Representatives | |
| Before Election: | Vladimir Andreichenko |
| Before Party: | Independent |
| After Election: | Igor Sergeenko |
| After Party: | Independent |
Parliamentary elections were held in Belarus on 25 February 2024.[1] [2] [3] The country elected 110 deputies to the lower house of parliament (House of Representatives) and about 12,000 representatives of local councils.[4]
There were no opposition candidates in these parliamentary campaigns — all contenders come from four registered political parties, each of which is pro-government, or pro-government independents.[5] The Belarusian opposition called for boycotting the elections or voting against all.[6] [7] The Belarusian authorities refused to invite observers from the OSCE.[8]
The elections were the first since the 2020–2021 Belarusian protests against the authoritarian regime of President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in office since 1994. Lukashenko warned that the authorities had "learnt our lesson" since the protests and that there would be "no rebellions" during the election. A month before the election, the Belarusian KGB launched a series of raids targeting the families of political prisoners.[9] Observers and human rights organizations have noted that since the protests, the regime has thoroughly "cleansed" the political landscape, and that conditions for free elections are "currently practically absent in Belarus."[10]
On 29 January 2024, at the meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, Lukashenko expressed confidence that the voting will be held calmly. "The period is so difficult, but, as you can see, it passes calmly. And I'm sure we'll approach these dates calmly and hold these events just as calmly." Days before the election, Lukashenko accused the West of trying to use "new triggers to destabilize the society" and claimed that Polish authorities were trying to convince senior Belarusian officials to switch their allegiance as part of a coup plot. Belarusian political analyst Valery Karbalevich noted that Lukashenko was treating the election like a "military operation", with authorities seeing any vote "as a threat and a pretext to step up repressions and tighten the screws."[11]
The 110 members of the House of Representatives were elected from single-member constituencies by first-past-the-post voting.[12]
On 16 February 2023, the Law "On Amendments to the Electoral Code of the Republic of Belarus" was adopted. According to the law, the minimum voter turnout threshold was abolished and a ban on photographing the ballot paper was introduced. In addition, polling stations for voting abroad were abolished and additional requirements for parliamentary candidates were introduced (including a ban on dual citizenship).[13] The Interior Ministry conducted drills during which police detained offenders photographing ballots and creating artificial queues outside polling stations.
Early voting was held from 20 to 24 February 2024 with turnout reaching over 40% according to authorities. The Viasna Human Rights Center said that students, soldiers, teachers and other government employees were forced to participate in early voting.[14] Authorities later said that total turnout reached 73%.[15]
In February 2023, the Belarusian government changed the legislation on political parties. The minimum number of members was increased from one to five thousand, the obligation to have structures in all country regions and other tightening norms were introduced.[16] In Summer-Autumn 2023, the Belarusian authorities conducted a mass "re-registration" of political parties, as a result of which only 4 out of 15 parties remained registered. 11 other parties - mostly opposition parties - were legally liquidated at the request of the Ministry of Justice of Belarus.[17] The initiator of the party changes was President Lukashenko, who in April 2022 announced about "the upcoming big work in party building and bringing order in public associations" and demanded to rewrite the legislation.[18] And in December he said that "only those parties should work in the political field of the country, the activity of which corresponds to the basic principles of domestic and foreign policy".[19] The political parties that were allowed to run in the elections have supported Lukashenko's policies.[9]
| Party | Leader | Ideology | 2019 result | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes (%) | Seats | |||||
| Communist Party of Belarus (CPB) | Aliaksiej Sokal | Communism Marxism–Leninism | 10.62% | |||
| Liberal Democratic Party of Belarus (LDPB) | Oleg Gaidukevich | Russian-Belarusian unionism Right-wing populism | 5.33% | |||
| Republican Party of Labour and Justice (RPTS) | Democratic socialism Social democracy | 6.75% | ||||
| Belaya Rus (PBR) | Oleg Romanov | Russophilia Euroscepticism Agrarianism | Did not exist | |||
| Ideology | Candidates by electoral district | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brest Region | Vitebsk Region | Gomel Region | Grodno Region | Minsk Region | Mogilev Region | City of Minsk | Total | ||||
| 34 | 33 | 43 | 35 | 35 | 26 | 59 | 265 | ||||
| Belarusian Party "Belaya Rus" | Pro-Lukashenko | 23 | 13 | 19 | 16 | 15 | 12 | 13 | 111 | ||
| Communist Party of Belarus | Communism | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 14 | 34 | ||
| Liberal Democratic Party of Belarus | Right-wing populism | 1 | 7 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 36 | ||
| Republican Party of Labour and Justice | Democratic socialism | 3 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 22 | ||
| Independents | 5 | 11 | 3 | 7 | 15 | 2 | 19 | 62 | |||
Since 1995, no election in Belarus has been recognized as free and fair by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).[14] For the 2024 election, its observers were not allowed to participate in the election, marking the third consecutive time that the organization was prevented from doing so in Belarus. The Belarusian Foreign Ministry said that the "reasons for this are clear and simple," namely "the traditional dominance of representatives of Western countries in OSCE missions," the imposition of "unjustified and tough" sanctions by Western countries and the "deterioration of logistical opportunities" in the movement of its citizens to and from the country. The Central Election Commission of Belarus instead issued invitations to election commissions in other members of the Commonwealth of Independent States and delegates from the Association of World Election Bodies. It also accredited representatives from 23 European Union member states, including from Germany, Poland and Lithuania, whose identities and affiliations were not disclosed. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization also sent a mission to observe the vote.[10]
The CEC stated that the results of the election will be established by 1 March 2024.[20]
On 26 February 2024, the Central Election Commission of Belarus published a preliminary list of elected deputies of the House of Representatives of the eighth convocation.[21] [22] [23]
| Region | Constituency | Deputy | Party | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brestsky-West | Valentina Pukh | Belaya Rus | |||
| Brestsky-Centre | Olga Stepus | Independent | |||
| Brestsky-East | Vladimir Borovenko | Belaya Rus | |||
| Brestsky-Border | Andrei Krupenkin | Independent | |||
| Baranovichsky-West | Alexei Raiko | Belaya Rus | |||
| Baranovichsky-East | Pavel Popko | Belaya Rus | |||
| Baranovichsky Rural | Georgy Khlebovich | Belaya Rus | |||
| Belovezhsky | Ekaterina Pozdyaykina | Belaya Rus | |||
| Pruzhansky | Yury Narkevich | Belaya Rus | |||
| Dnepro-Bugsky | Svetlana Bartosh | RPTS | |||
| Ivatsevichsky | Oleg Kuzmin | Belaya Rus | |||
| Kobrinsky | Polina Vasilyuk | Belaya Rus | |||
| Luninetsky | Edward Severin | Independent | |||
| Pinsky City | Alexander Omelyanyuk | CPB | |||
| Pinsky Rural | Vladimir Kolesnikovich | Belaya Rus | |||
| Stolinsky | Alexander Vechorko | Belaya Rus | |||
| Vitebsk | Vitebsky-Gorkovsky | Victor Nikolaykin | Independent | ||
| Vitebsky-Chkalovsky | Irina Astapenko | Belaya Rus | |||
| Vitebsky-Zheleznodorozhny | Ruslan Shkodin | Independent | |||
| Vitebsky-Oktyabrsky | Yury Panfilov | Independent | |||
| Gorodoksky | Andrei Balysh | LDPB | |||
| Dokshitsky | Anatoly Sivko | Independent | |||
| Lepelsky | Victor Azarenok | Independent | |||
| Novopolotsky | Denis Karas | RPTS | |||
| Orshansky City | Alexander Mikhno | Independent | |||
| Orshansky-Dneprovsky | Gleb Gulenkov | Independent | |||
| Polotsky City | Svetlana Odintsova | Independent | |||
| Polotsky Rural | Alexander Stoma | Belaya Rus | |||
| Postavsky | Igor Sergeenko | Independent | |||
| Tolochinsky | Vladimir Babichev | Independent | |||
| Gomel | Gomelsky-Yubileiny | Vitaly Utkin | LDPB | ||
| Gomelsky-Zheleznodorozhny | Alexander Konopatsky | CPB | |||
| Gomelsky-Tsentralny | Vladimir Gavrilovich | Belaya Rus | |||
| Gomelsky-Sovetsky | Irina Dovgalo | Independent | |||
| Gomelsky-Promyshlenny | Anzhelina Syromyatnikova | Belaya Rus | |||
| Gomelsky-Novobelitsky | Sergei Kazachok | Belaya Rus | |||
| Gomelsky Rural | Yulia Volkova | RPTS | |||
| Buda-Koshelevsky | Ruslan Vegera | Belaya Rus | |||
| Zhitkovichsky | Svetlana Senko | Belaya Rus | |||
| Zhlobinsky | Alexander Malobitsky | Belaya Rus | |||
| Kalinkovichsky | Nikolai Maratayev | Independent | |||
| Mozyrsky | Oksana Kovalkova | Belaya Rus | |||
| Polessky | Alla Naumenko | Belaya Rus | |||
| Rechitsky | Oleg Tsilko | RPTS | |||
| Rogachevsky | Nikolai Kudenchuk | Independent | |||
| Svetlogorsky | Elena Lapteva | Belaya Rus | |||
| Hoyniksky | Zhanna Chernyavskaya | CPB | |||
| Grodno | Volkovyssky | Victor Pleskach | Belaya Rus | ||
| Grodnensky-Zanemansky | Mikhail Oksenyuk | Independent | |||
| Grodnensky-Oktyabrsky | Elena Potapova | CPB | |||
| Grodnensky-Leninsky | Andrei Anisimov | Belaya Rus | |||
| Grodnensky-Severny | Oleg Romanov | Belaya Rus | Belaya Rus leader | ||
| Grodnensky Border | Anton Kulisevich | Belaya Rus | |||
| Ivyevsky | Vitaly Rakovets | Belaya Rus | |||
| Lidsky | Ekaterina Serafinovich | Belaya Rus | |||
| Nemansky | Mikhail Orda | Independent | FPB leader | ||
| Zamkovyy | Alexander Songin | RPTS | |||
| Slonimsky | Valentin Semenyako | Independent | |||
| Smorgonsky | Igor Shaludin | Belaya Rus | |||
| Shchuchinsky | Nadezhna Khaltsova | Belaya Rus | |||
| Minsk | Berezinsky | Yury Korsik | Belaya Rus | ||
| Borisovsky City | Alexander Shipulo | Belaya Rus | |||
| Borisovsky Rural | Ruslan Kosygin | Belaya Rus | |||
| Zhodinsky | Yury Maretsky | Independent | |||
| Pukhovichsky | Elena Parkhimchik | RPTS | |||
| Kopylsky | Andrei Lis | Independent | |||
| Slutsky | Natalia Ovsyannikova | Independent | |||
| Soligorsky City | Elena Khamitsevich | RPTS | |||
| Soligorsky Rural | Oksana Ilkovich | Belaya Rus | |||
| Stolbtsovsky | Elena Klishevich | Belaya Rus | |||
| Dzerzhinsky | Irina Kostevich | Independent | |||
| Molodechnensky City | Denis Ushatsky | Independent | |||
| Molodechnensky Rural | Ivan Markevich | Belaya Rus | |||
| Vileysky | Svetlana Sokolovskaya | Independent | |||
| Logoysky | Tatyana Lavrinovich | Belaya Rus | |||
| Senitsky | Anatoly Bulavko | Independent | |||
| Zaslavsky | Elena Khilya | Belaya Rus | |||
| Mogilev | Bobruisky-Leninsky | Olga Zhuk | Belaya Rus | ||
| Bobruisky-Pervomaisky | Oksana Prikhodko | LDPB | |||
| Bobruisky Rural | Anton Karankevich | Belaya Rus | |||
| Bykhovsky | Alexandra Mikheyenko | Belaya Rus | |||
| Goretsky | Vladimir Pavlovsky | RPTS | |||
| Krichevsky | Sergei Davydov | Independent | |||
| Mogilevsky-Leninsky | Igor Marzalyuk | Independent | |||
| Mogilevsky-Centralny | Natalia Kuleshova | Belaya Rus | |||
| Mogilevsky-Oktyabrsky | Galina Belyayeva | Belaya Rus | |||
| Mogilevsky-Promyshlenny | Vladimir Podobed | CPB | |||
| Mogilevsky Rural | Natalia Tarasenko | CPB | |||
| Osipovichsky | Oleg Dyachenko | Belaya Rus | |||
| Schklovsky | Valery Malashko | Belaya Rus | |||
| Minsk City | Severny | Dzmitry Shautsou | Independent | ||
| Mashinostroitelny | Gennady Lepeshko | Independent | |||
| Vasnetsovsky | Sergei Rachkov | Independent | |||
| Kupalovsky | Igor Pashkov | Independent | |||
| Svislochsky | Alexander Shpakovsky | Belaya Rus | |||
| Oktyabrsky | Sergei Klishevich | CPB | |||
| Chkalovsky | Vyacheslav Danilovich | Belaya Rus | |||
| Dzerzhinsky | Nastassia Mironchyk-Ivanova | Independent | |||
| Yeseninsky | Ruslan Chernetsky | Belaya Rus | |||
| Yugo-Zapadny | Alexander Barsukov | Independent | |||
| Zapadny | Marina Lenchevskaya | Independent | |||
| Kamenogorsky | Mikhail Mironchik | Independent | |||
| Kalvariysky | Vasily Panasyuk | Belaya Rus | |||
| Lynkovsky | Anzhelika Kurchak | Independent | |||
| Starovilensky | Vadim Ipatov | Independent | |||
| Kolasovsky | Nikolai Buzin | Independent | |||
| Vostochny | Natalia Dergach | Belaya Rus | |||
| Pervomaisky | Oleg Gaidukevich | LDPB | LDPB leader | ||
| Uruchsky | Ivan Gordeychik | Independent | |||
| Partizansky | Vadim Gigin | Belaya Rus | |||
On election day Lukashenko announced that he would run again for president in the 2025 elections.[14]
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Lukashenko's exiled opponent in the 2020 Belarusian presidential election, called for a boycott of the election, saying that "there are no people on the ballot who would offer real changes because the regime only has allowed puppets convenient for it to take part". She also called on the international community not to recognize the results of the election.[9] Tsikhanouskaya's video message was broadcast on 2,000 screens used for street advertising across Belarus after opposition activists managed to gain access to them, leading to the arrests of some employees of the firm which owned the screens.[15] Members of the Belarusian opposition have popularly referred to the elections as (be|Бязвыбары|lit=without-elections|link=no), in reference to the tight government control over elections.[24] [25] [26]
Russian president Vladimir Putin congratulated Lukashenko on "the confident victory of patriotic forces of Belarus", which he said helped to "ensure internal political stability."[15]
The United States Department of State condemned the elections, describing them as being "held in a climate of fear under which no electoral processes could be called democratic."[27]