president elected by popular vote for a five-year term;
election last held 24 June and 10 July 1994 (next to be held NA 2001
because of the additional two years provided by the November 1996
referendum); prime minister appointed by the president
election results: Aleksandr LUKASHENKO elected president; percent of
vote - Aleksandr LUKASHENKO 85%, Vyacheslav KEBICH 15%
note: first presidential elections took place in June-July 1994

Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament established by the 28
November Constitution consists of the Council of the Republic (64
seats; the president appoints 8 and each oblast plus the Minsk city
government elect 8) and the Chamber of Representatives (110 seats;
note - present members came from the defunct Supreme Soviet)
elections: last held May and November-December 1995 (two rounds, each
with a run-off; next to be held NA 2000)
election results : percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - KPB
42, Agrarian 33, CAB 9, Party of People's Concord 8, UPNAZ 2, SDPB 2,
BPR 1, Green Party 1, Republican Party of Labor and Justice 1, BSP 1,
NFB 1, Social and Sports Party 1, Ecological Party 1, independents 95,
vacant 62; note - after the November 1996 referendum, seats for the
Chamber of Representatives were filled by former Supreme Soviet
members as follows: PKB 24, Agrarian 14, Party of Peoples Concord 5,
LDPB 1, UPNAZ 1, Green World Party 1, Belarusian Social Sports Party
1, Ecological Party 1, Republican Party of Labor and Justice 1,
independents 60; 58 of the 64 seats in the Council of the Republic
have been appointed/elected

Judicial branch: Supreme Court, judges are appointed by the president;
Constitutional Court, half of the judges appointed by the president
and half appointed by the Chamber of Representatives

Political parties and leaders: Belarusian Communist Party or KPB
[Yefrem SOKOLOV and Viktor CHIKIN, chairmen]; Agrarian Party
[Aleksandr PAVLOV, chairman]; Civic Accord Bloc (United Civic Party)
or CAB [Stanislav BOGDANKEVICH, chairman]; Party of People's Concord
[Leonid SECHKO, chairman]; Party of All-Belarusian Unity and Concord
or UPNAZ [Dmitriy BULAKOV, chairman]; Belarusian Social-Democrat
Hramada or SDBP [Nikolai STATKEVICH, chairman]; Belarusian Patriotic
Movement (Belarusian Patriotic Party) or BPR [Anatol BARANKEVICH];
Green Party of Belarus [Nikolai KARTASH, chairman]; Republican Party
of Labor and Justice [Anatol NETYLKIN, chairman]; Belarus Peasants or
BSP [Yevg