Belarusians overwhelmingly approved a referendum on scrapping presidential term limits, the Central Elections Comission announced Monday
Published:
18 October 2004 y., Monday
Belarusians overwhelmingly approved a referendum on scrapping presidential term limits, the Central Elections Comission announced Monday, allowing the authoritarian leader of this ex-Soviet republic to seek a new term in 2006.
Opposition figures claimed that Sunday's vote was rigged in order to allow Alexander Lukashenko, often branded as Europe's last dictator, to stay in power. He has led the nation of 10 million since 1994.
Central Elections Commission Chairwoman Lidiya Ermoshina announced early Monday that the preliminary tally of all the ballots showed more than 77 percent of the voters approved dropping the term limits and that nationwide turnout was nearly 90 percent.
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