tion should
have been held in 1999, however LUKASHENKO extended his term to 2001
via the November 1996 referendum); prime minister and deputy prime
ministers appointed by the president

election results: Aleksandr LUKASHENKO elected president; percent
of vote - Aleksandr LUKASHENKO 85%, Vyacheslav KEBICH 15%

Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament or Natsionalnoye Sobranie
consists of the Council of the Republic or Soviet Respubliki (64
seats) and the Chamber of Representatives or Palata Pretsaviteley
(110 seats)

elections: last held October 2000 (next to be held NA)

election results: party affiliation data unavailable; under present
political conditions party designations are meaningless

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: Agrarian Party or AP [Semyon
SHARETSKY, chairman]; Belarusian Communist Party or KPB [Viktor
CHIKIN, chairman]; Belarusian Ecological Green Party (merger of
Belarusian Ecological Party and Green Party of Belarus) [leader NA];
Belarusian Patriotic Movement (Belarusian Patriotic Party) or BPR
[Anatoliy BARANKEVICH, chairman]; Belarusian Popular Front or BNF
[Vintsuk VYACHORKA]; Belarusian Social-Democrat or SDBP [Nikolay
STATKEVICH, chairman]; Belarusian Social-Democratic Party Hromada
[Stanislav SHUSHKEVICH, chairman]; Belarusian Socialist Party
[Vyacheslav KUZNETSOV]; Civic Accord Bloc (United Civic Party) or
CAB [Stanislav BOGDANKEVICH, chairman]; Liberal Democratic Party or
LDPB [Sergei GAYDUKEVICH, chairman]; Party of Communists Belarusian
or PKB [Sergei KALYAKIN, chairman]; Republican Party of Labor and
Justice or RPPS [Anatoliy NETYLKIN, chairman]; Social-Democrat Party
of Popular Accord or PPA [Leanid SECHKA]; Women's Party Nadezhda
[Valentina POLEVIKOVA, chairperson]

Political pressure groups and leaders: NA

International organization participation: CCC, CEI, CIS, EAPC, EBRD,
ECE, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Inmarsat,
Intelsat (nonsignatory user), Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO,
ITU, NAM, NSG, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU,
WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO (observer)

Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador
Valeriy TSEPAKLO

chancery: 1619 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009

telephone: [1] (202) 986-1604