Constitutional amendments, approved by over 65% of voters at Feb 27 referendum, adopted - Belarusian CEC
MINSK. Feb 28 (Interfax) - The introduction of amendments to the Belarusian constitution was approved in Sunday's referendum.
The preliminary results indicate that a total of 65.16% of citizens who participated in the referendum voted in favor of the proposed amendments, Belarusian Central Elections Commission (CEC) head Igor Karpenko said in the early hours of Monday.
"A total of 65.16% of people included in the voter lists voted in favor of adopting these amendments to the constitution of the Republic of Belarus," Karpenko said.
A total of 10.07% of the voters voted against the amendments, he said.
The voter turnout in the referendum was 78.63% of the voters on the lists, the CEC said.
The main stage of the voting took place on Sunday. Early voting, in which the voter turnout was 42.93%, was held on February 22-26. The final CEC meeting is scheduled for March 3.
There was one question in the referendum: "Do you accept amendments and additions to the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus?"
A referendum is considered valid if more than half of the voters on the lists vote in it. In order for a decision to be adopted, more than 50% of the voters need to vote for it.
The new Constitution proposes raising the lower age limit for presidential candidates from 35 to 40 and increasing a permanent residence requirement in Belarus from ten years to 20 years. The amendments provide that a presidential candidate cannot have or have ever had foreign citizenship or permanent residency permit. One and the same person cannot be president for more than two terms. The amendments also propose introducing inviolability of the president.
A president who has stopped fulfilling his powers cannot be subjected to accountability for actions taken in connection with the exercise of presidential powers by him. He becomes a lifelong member of the Council of the Republic, the upper chamber of the parliament.
The new Constitution expands the powers of the All-Belarusian People's Assembly. Both incumbent and former presidents and representatives of bodies of legislative, executive and judicial authority and civil society are delegates of the All-Belarusian People's Assembly.
The All-Belarusian People's Assembly gets the powers to dismiss the president, elect the head and members of the Central Elections Commission, the Constitutional and Supreme Courts, and declare a state of emergency or martial law on the territory of the country.
One of the proposed provisions states that Belarus rules out military aggression from its territory against other states.
The proposed amendments also state that marriage in the Republic of Belarus is a union of a man and a woman.
The Belarusian opposition has come up with its own draft Constitution, according to which the country should become a parliamentary republic.