Voting in presidential election kicks off in Belarus

MINSK, January 26. /TASS/. Over 5,300 polling stations have opened for the presidential election in Belarus to host the main voting day, the republic's Central Election Commission (CEC) reported.

The CEC specified that around 6.9 million Belarusians are eligible to vote at 5,325 polling stations. Of these, 207 are located in hospitals, rest homes, and other public facilities, while 12 are set up in military units. Voting will conclude at 8 p.m. local time (5 p.m. GMT).

The election will be deemed valid if more than half of the eligible voters cast their ballots. According to the CEC, 41.81% of voters participated in early voting held on January 21-25.

The president will be considered elected if more than half of the citizens participating in the election vote in his favor. Over 44,000 domestic and nearly 500 international observers are monitoring the election process.

Five candidates are vying for the post of head of state, including incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko, who has led Belarus since 1994. His rivals are the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party Oleg Gaidukevich, entrepreneur Anna Kanopatskaya, first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party Sergey Syrankov, and leader of the Republican Party of Labor and Justice Alexander Khizhnyak.