1995 Belarusian parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Belarus on 14 May 1995 to elect the thirteenth Supreme Council. The elections took place alongside a multi-question referendum, although several further rounds of voting were required on 28 May, 29 November and 10 December.[1] The majority of candidates elected were independents, although 62 seats remained unfilled due to insufficient voter turnout. A total of 2,348 candidates and 22 parties contested the election, around a thousand of which were independents.[2] After the planned two rounds, only 119 of the 260 seats had been filled due to turnouts being too low in some areas. As this was well short of the 174 needed for a quorum, an additional two rounds were necessary. By the fourth round a quorum was reached, and although further rounds of voting were planned for 1996 to fill the remaining seats, following the constitutional amendments made following the referendum and the subsequent formation of a new National Assembly, they were not held.[3]

1995 Belarusian parliamentary election

14 May 1995
All 260 seats in the Supreme Soviet
First party Second party   Party Belarusian Party of Communists Agrarian Party Seats before 0 Seats won 43 33 Seat change 43 33   Third party Fourth party   Party People's Accord Party United Civic Party of Belarus Seats before 0 0 Seats won 8 5 Seat change 8 5

Foreign observers noted that the elections were not free and fair.[2]

Results

Party	Round												Total seats
	First			Second			Third			Fourth
	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
Belarusian Party of Communists			3			24			6			10	43
Agrarian Party			5			25			3			0	33
People's Accord Party			1			2			0			5	8
United Civic Party of Belarus			0			0			1			4	5
All-Belarusian Unity and Accord Party			0			0			0			2	2
Belarusian Social Democratic Assembly			0			1			0			1	2
Belarusian Ecological Party			0			0			0			1	1
Belarusian Peasant Party			0			1			0			0	1
Belarusian Popular Party			0			0			0			1	1
Belarusian Party "The Greens"			0			1			0			0	1
Belarusian Socialist Party			0			1			0			0	1
Belarusian Socialist Sporting Party			0			0			0			1	1
Republican Party of Labour and Justice			0			1			0			0	1
Belarusian Patriotic Movement			0			1			0			0	1
Belarusian Labour Party			0			0			0			1	1
Civic Party			0			0			0			1	1
Partyja BPF			0			0			0			0	0
Belarusian Christian Democratic Union			0			0			0			0	0
Slavic Council			0			0			0			0	0
Beer Lovers Party			0			0			0			0	0
Belarusian National Party			0			0			0			0	0
Liberal Democratic Party			0			0			0			0	0
Belarusian Women's Party "Nadzieja"			0			0			0			0	0
National Democratic Party of Belarus			0			0			0			0	0
Belarusian Scientific-Industrian Congress			0			0			0			0	0
Common Sense Party			0			0			0			0	0
Republican Party			0			0			0			0	0
Independents			9			44			10			32	95
Vacant			–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	62
Invalid/blank votes						–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Total valid votes	4,821,199		18	3,471,635		101	2,550,608		20	1,856,738		59	260

Aftermath

Following the elections, the MPs from the Belarusian Socialist Party, the Belarusian Labour Party and the Civic Party joined the United Civic Party of Belarus, together with one MP who defected from the Belarusian Party of Communists.[4]

References

1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p252 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Belarus: Elections held in 1995 Inter-Parliamentary Union
3. Nohlen & Stöver, pp258-259
4. Nohlen & Stöver, p261