Voting begins in Minsk in Belarusian parliamentary elections

MINSK, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- Voting kicked off in Minsk, the Belarusian capital, on Sunday morning for the election of the country's lower house of parliament.

A total of 263 candidates are competing for 110 seats in the lower house, or the House of Representatives, according to the Belarusian Central Election Commission (CEC).

Of the candidates, 82 are from eight political parties and the others are non-partisans.

More than 900 international observers, including those from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and over 17, 000 national observers are monitoring the elections.

All necessary conditions were created for holding parliamentary elections in compliance with international standards, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said at a polling station after casting his ballot.

"It will be very difficult for international observers to discard the elections," he said.

The Belarusian president also said his country needs a constructive opposition. "A real, constructive opposition is always welcome. We'll come to this sooner or later. But what I mean is not the opposition fed and funded fully from outside," he said.

Voters could cast their ballots as early as Tuesday. Over 26 percent of the about 7 million voters had already voted in advance voting before polling station opened at 08:00 Minsk time (0500 GMT) on Sunday.

Preliminary results of the elections would be announced on Monday and the final results are expected to come out on Oct. 3.

The CEC has predicted a 85-percent voter turnout in the parliamentary elections.

Candidates garnering more than 50 percent of the vote in a valid first round, which is defined as having a turnout over 50 percent, will be elected. In constituencies where there is no outright winner in the first round, the two highest placed candidates will go forward to a second round to be held within two weeks.

The previous parliamentary elections were held in Belarus on Oct. 17, 2004 and denounced by the Western countries as flawed and undemocratic.

Lukashenko warned last week that Belarus would cease all dialogue with the West if it failed to recognize the ex-Soviet state's parliamentary elections.