Antifake / Factcheck

04 March

Voter turnout in Belarus 2024 elections was the highest? Lukashenko's claim fact-checked

The single voting day took place in Belarus on February 25.

Fake appearance date: 26.02.2024
Aleksandr Lukashenko claimed the highest voter turnout in Belarus elections to parliament and local councils. The Weekly Top Fake team checked to see whether it was true.

The single voting day took place in Belarus on February 25. Belarusians were expected to elect about 12.5 thousand deputies to local councils and 110 deputies to the lower house of parliament.

The next day, Aleksandr Lukashenko said that the number of voters who came to the elections was the highest.

“You see what the turnout is. Unexpected, to be honest. I didn’t even expect that we would have such a turnout. We have never had it in elections to councils, local authorities, or parliamentary elections. There has never been such a turnout here," he said.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) reported the voter turnout for the 2024 Belarus elections was 73.46%.

The voter turnout for the parliamentary elections was 77.4% in 2019, 2016 — 74.7%, 2012 — 74.61%, 2008 — 76.7%, 2004 — 89.84%.

The voter turnout for local council elections was 77,23% in 2018, 2014 — 77,4%, 2010 — 79,5%, 2007 — 79,5%, 2003 — 73,40%.

Thus, according to official data, the voting turnout for the 2024 elections is the lowest in the last 20 years. Here are the BIC-identified facts that influenced the voting result — “Guns to replace the media and the opposition: 9 facts about the Single Voting Day in Belarus".

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