2016 Belarusian Parliamentary Election Sunday Sep 11,2016

The 2016 Belarusian Parliamentary Election is scheduled to be held on Sunday Sep 11,2016

The 110 members of the House of Representatives  were previously elected using the 2-round system

However, a new electoral code was introduced in 2013, abolishing the requirement for candidates to receive an absolute majority, effectively changing the voting system to first past the post

 All candidates are elected in single-member constituencies.

 However, if there is only one candidate, they are required to receive at least 50% of the votes cast (voters may also vote against all).

 Voter turnout in a constituency must be at least 50% for the election to be deemed valid.

In cases where the turnout have not been met or no candidate has been elected, repeat elections will be held

A pre-election report by the observer mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe notes that "the process of campaigning is strictly regulated. The campaign remains largely invisible." There are 488 candidates running for 110 seats, but critics point to problems they say foretell a rigged and unfair vote. The departing parliament has no opposition members

Europe's last authoritarian state, Belarus is ready for the parliamentary elections which will take place on September 11 with no posters showing candidates' faces or even stating with parties are in the running at the streets of Minsk. Considering the absence of campaign material during election process, whether Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko who has been in power since 1994 will be re-elected or not is of crucial importance for both Europe and Russia. The iron-fisted president Lukashenko was re-elected in presidential election to a fifth term in Oct 2015

Belarus is of geostrategic importance for both Russia and the E.U

President Lukashenko, in power since 1994, has never been an easy partner for the Kremlin. He has frequently tried to play Moscow off against the West to extract the best deals for his country. Still, Russia has regarded Belarus as its closest ally. The two countries are officially designated as united in a "union state", though that body has no formal decision-making powers.