MINSK, September 23 (Itar-Tass) — As at 10:00 local time /11:00 Moscow time/, 27.6 percent of voters have participated in Belarus’ parliamentary elections on Sunday, Chairperson of the republic’s Central Elections Commission Lidiya Yermoshina said.
Most electors – over 30 percent – have been registered in the Vitebsk region and at the election stations organised abroad, she added.
Yermoshina said “traditionally, as a rule, a parliament is formed in the first round of elections, which means that voters elect the necessary number of deputies. Four years earlier, the parliament was formed fully in the first round.”
“I believe, there will not be surprises in 2012 either,” she said.
As for the attendance, social services report it was forecasted at 67 percent, she continued. But, as most people have returned from holidays “we may hope for a higher attendance. Nevertheless, it would not be as high at presidential elections in the Republic of Belarus. It would be slightly lower. However, let us see what happens.”
Besides, Yermoshina said that during the elections, “the situation, according to the interior ministry, is stable; there have not been any emergency or alarming incidents.”
The Central Elections Commission reports that 25.9 percent out of the 27.6 percent of those who have voted already participated in the country’s early parliamentary elections – during five days before the main voting day.