2012 Belarusian parliamentary election
{{Short description|none}}
{{Expand Belarusian|topic=gov|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox legislative election
| country = Belarus
| type = parliamentary
| previous_election = 2008
| next_election = 2016
| seats_for_election = All 110 seats in the House of Representatives
| majority_seats = 56
| turnout = 74.61% ({{decrease}} 2.13pp)
| election_date = 23 September 2012
| leader1 = {{ill|Tatsyana Holubeva|be|Таццяна Генадзеўна Голубева}}
| party1 = Communist Party of Belarus
| last_election1 = 6
| seats1 = 3
| percentage1 = 2.74
| leader5 = {{ill|Vasil Zadnyaprany|be|Васіль Васілевіч Задняпраны}}
| party5 = Republican Party of Labour and Justice
| last_election5 = 0
| seats5 = 1
| percentage5 = 1.53
| leader6 = {{ill|Mikhail Rusy|be|Міхаіл Іванавіч Русы}}
| party6 = Belarusian Agrarian Party
| last_election6 = 1
| seats6 = 1
| percentage6 = 0.79
| leader7 = –
| party7 = Independents
| last_election7 = 103
| seats7 = 105
| percentage7 = 75.49
| title = Speaker of the House of Representatives
| before_election = Vladimir Andreichenko
| before_party = Communist Party of Belarus
| after_election = Vladimir Andreichenko
| after_party = Communist Party of Belarus
}}{{Politics of Belarus}}
File:Мапа з нумарамі1.pngFile:Invitation Belarus 230912.jpg
Parliamentary elections were held in Belarus on 23 September 2012.[http://electionguide.org/country.php?ID=21 Country Profile] IFES At stake were the 110 seats in the House of Representatives, the lower house of the National Assembly of Belarus.
Electoral system
According to the 1994 electoral law, the 110 members of the House of Representatives were elected in single-member districts. Winning candidates had to achieve an absolute majority of the vote in their constituency and turnout was required to be 50% or more. If neither were achieved, a second round would have been held, contested by the two candidates from the first round with the most votes.[http://www.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/2027_B.htm Belarus: Palata Predstaviteley (House of Representatives)] IPU For the second round the turnout threshold was reduced to 25%, except in cases in which there is only one candidate contesting the second round, in which case it was abolished. If only one candidate ran in the second round, they still had to achieve a majority of the vote.
The voting age was set at 18, whilst candidates had to be at least 21. Members of the Council of the Republic and members of a local councils were ineligible for election to the House of Representatives. Candidates had to collect at least 1,000 signatures from voters in the constituency they intended to run in.
Voting centres were open from 08:00 to around 20:00. Four previous days of early voting for students, armed service staff and police resulted in at a voter turnout of at least 19%, according to the election commission.{{Cite web|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2012/09/201292312753955232.html|title = Polls close in Belarus election amid boycott}}
Campaign
The elections were contested by the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, the United Left Party "A Just World", the Belarusian Social Democratic Party, the Republican Party of Labour and Justice, the Belarusian Socialist Sporting Party and the Agrarian Party.[http://www.vybory2012.by/map.html Кандидаты | Сайт парламентских выборов 2012 года в Республике Беларусь]{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} The BPF Party and the United Civic Party both pulled out of the election a week before polling day.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19690249 Belarus opposition shut out of parliament in election] BBC News, 24 September 2012 Sixteen seats were uncontested.
Following the 2010 presidential election and the consequent arrests of activists and candidates, including Andrei Sannikov and Vladimir Neklyayev were reportedly absent from the political limelight. Alexander Milinkevich, who ran in the 2006 presidential election tried to register as a candidate for the elections but was disqualified for "technical reasons."
The two main opposition parties, including the United Civic Party (UCP), called for voters to go fishing or pick mushrooms in avoiding to vote so as not to give the election and new parliament legitimacy. The UCP posted a video on YouTube that showed its activists picking mushrooms, playing chess and reading books as an alternative to voting. Party leader Anatoly Lebedko also said that protests were banned and groups could not hand out leaflets, with those who tried being stopped by police and the leaflets being seized. President Alexander Lukashenko reacted by saying that the opposition parties were "afraid of going to the people." In turn, opposition activists accused the government of inducing higher education students to vote sometimes under the threat of losing subsidies for accommodation. In the week prior to the election, state security police broke up gatherings of activists that had sought to urge potential voters to cook borshch instead, while several of them were arrested along with media photographers. Some of photographers were later released after about two hours. Independent political analyst Alexander Klaskovsky was quoted as saying: "The opposition is virtually broken. It has few resources and there is no real programme."
Results
109 of 110 MPs were elected receiving an absolute majority with the necessary turnout, with only the constituency of Novobelitsky failing to elect a candidate in the first round.[https://archive.today/20121209074331/http://news.belta.by/en/main_news?id=693867.html Legitimate parliament elected in Belarus] Belarusian Telegraph Agency, 24 September 2012 Of the independent candidates, 63 were members of Belaya Rus.[http://rec.gov.by/sites/default/files/pdf/Elections-PPNS5-Itogi_English.pdf Elections to the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus of the fifth convocation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304030208/http://rec.gov.by/sites/default/files/pdf/Elections-PPNS5-Itogi_English.pdf |date=2016-03-04 }} CEC
The Central Election Commission declared voter turnout had been at least 65.9%, thus validating the result. However, other independent monitors suggested a turnout of 30%. Vitaly Rymashevsky, the co-chairman of the Belarus Christian Democracy party, said: "The election commission is unscrupulously lying as these figures are so radically different from those of observers." On 23 September, Lidya Yermoshina, the head of the CEC, said that with a final tally for 109 seats it was "doubtful" that the opposition won any seats.
The vacant seat was later taken by an independent.[http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/belarus2.html Belarus] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161121103808/http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/belarus2.html |date=2016-11-21 }} Parties and Elections
{{Election results
|image=File:Belarusian Parliament Structure 2012.svg
|party1=Liberal Democratic Party|votes1=249455|seats1=0|sc1=0
|party2=Communist Party of Belarus|votes2=141095|seats2=3|sc2=–3
|party3=Belarusian Left Party "A Just World"|votes3=98288|seats3=0|sc3=0
|party4=Republican Party of Labour and Justice|votes4=79078|seats4=1|sc4=+1
|party5=Belarusian Agrarian Party|votes5=40488|seats5=1|sc5=0
|party6=Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Assembly)|votes6=38471|seats6=0|sc6=0
|party7=Belarusian Social Sporting Party|votes7=6921|seats7=0|sc7=0
|party8=BPF Party|votes8=2789|seats8=0|sc8=0
|party9=Independents|votes9=3892324|seats9=104|sc9=+1
|row10=Vacant|seats10=1|sc10=–
|row11=Against all|votes11=606887
|invalid=89663
|total_sc=0
|electorate=7030430
|source=[https://web.archive.org/web/20160304030208/http://rec.gov.by/sites/default/files/pdf/Elections-PPNS5-Itogi_English.pdf CEC], [http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/belarus.html Parties and Elections in Europe]
}}