Voters in Belarus have overwhelmingly endorsed constitutional changes to allow authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko, seen here, to seek a third tem in office, according to provisional results of a weekend referendum, the electoral commission chief has announced (AFP)

Voters in Belarus have overwhelmingly endorsed constitutional changes to allow authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko to seek a third term in office, according to provisional results of a weekend referendum, the electoral commission chief has announced.

Lukashenko "was supported by 77.3 percent of all registered voters," with "86.2 percent of those who turned out to vote casting their ballots in favor," commission chief Lydia Yermoshina said in televised comments.

Approval from over 50 percent of registered voters was required for the measure to pass.

Nearly 90 percent of the country's voters cast their ballots in what Yermoshina called a "gratifying and high turnout" in comments televised after the polls closed.

Seven million voters in this impoverished Slavic state of 10 million people on Europe's eastern edge were also electing on Sunday a new 110-seat parliament which Lukashenko has already vowed will not include a single opponent of his rule.

Full official results were expected later in the day.

Opposition leaders Sunday roundly condemned the conduct of the elections.

"There is large-scale fraud taking place," Vintsuk Vyachorka, leader of the National Front Party, told a press conference. "It is a farce."

"(Public television) Channel 1 started publishing exit polls at midday, claiming the "Yes" camp had won more than 80 percent of votes," complained Communist Party leader Sergei Kaliakin, who said this was "a way of putting pressure on voters".

Kaliakin also accused electoral observers from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which groups all former Soviet republics minus the Baltic states, of overtly backing Lukashenko.

The pan-European OSCE rights and democracy watchdog has sent observers to monitor the vote, although some of them have been denied entrance visas.

"They are throwing out observers from the election booths," Vyachorka complained to Moscow Echo radio.

Exit poll figures were conflicting, with the state-linked ECOOM polling agency giving Lukashenko 82 percent support in the referendum.

However, an independent exit poll set up by the Gallup Organisation showed that only 48.4 percent of Belarus's registered voters cast their ballots in favor of altering the constitution -- falling short of the required 50 percent, the Baltic Surveys group reported overnight.

(Agencies)

provisional : under terms not final or fully worked out or agreed upon（臨時的）

impoverished : poor enough to need help from others（窮困的）

overtly : publicly; openly（公開地）