View source for 2004 Belarusian constitutional referendum

{{infobox referendum
| title           = Do you allow the first President of the Republic of Belarus Lukashenko A.G. to participate as a candidate for the President of the Republic of Belarus in the presidential elections and do you accept the first part of Article 81 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus as follows:<br><br>''"The President is elected for five years directly by the people of the Republic of Belarus on the basis of universal, free, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot."'' ?
| country         = Belarus
| flag_year       = 1995
| date            = {{start date|2004|10|17|df=y}}
| yes             = 5,548,477
| no              =   691,917
| invalid         =    67,001
| electorate      = 6,986,163
| outcome         =
}}{{Politics of Belarus}}

A referendum on allowing President [[Alexander Lukashenko|Lukashenko]] to stand in further elections was held in [[Belarus]] on 17 October 2004, alongside [[2004 Belarusian parliamentary election|parliamentary elections]].<ref>[[Dieter Nohlen]] & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p252 {{ISBN|978-3-8329-5609-7}}</ref> Lukashenko was nearing the end of his constitutionally-limited two terms, and the change would allow him to run for a third term. 

In accordance with article 140 of the constitution, a majority of valid votes as well as a majority of registered voters in favor of the constitutional changes were required for the result to be deemed valid<ref>{{cite web | url=https://sudd.ch/event.php?lang=fr&id=by012004 | title=Weissrussland (Belarus), 17. Oktober 2004 : Alexander Lukaschenka als Kandidat für das Präsidentenamt und unbegrenzte Wiederwahl des Präsidenten -- &#91;en allemand&#93; }}</ref>

The result was 88.91% of valid votes and 79.42% of registered voters in favor, with a turnout of 90.28%.<ref>Nohlen & Stöver, p257</ref>

==Results==
{{blockquote|Do you permit the first  President  of the Republic of Belarus Lukashenko A.G. to participate as a candidate for Presidency of the Republic of Belarus during the President elections and do you adopt the Part I of Article 81 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus in the following wording:
:President is elected for the term of 5 years directly by the people of the Republic of Belarus by means of the universal, free, equal and direct suffrage under the voting by secret ballot?}}

{| class=wikitable style=text-align:right
!Choice
!Votes
!%
|-
|align=left|For||5,548,477||88.9
|-
|align=left|Against||691,917||11.1
|-
|align=left|Invalid/blank votes||67,001||–
|-
|align=left|'''Total'''||'''6,307,395'''||'''100'''
|-
|align=left|Registered voters/turnout||6,986,163||90.3
|-
|align=left colspan=3|Source: Nohlen & Stöver
|}

==Controversy==
Paragraph 112 of Belarusian Electoral Code lists "questions connected with election and dismissal of the President of the Republic of Belarus" among questions prohibited from being brought out to the Republican referendum.<ref name="BelarusianElectoralLaw">{{cite web |url=http://ncpi.gov.by/elections/eng/legal/code.htm |title=Electoral Code of the Republic of Belarus |publisher=The National Center of Legal Information of the Republic of Belarus |access-date=2012-01-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110823020556/http://ncpi.gov.by/elections/eng/legal/code.htm |archive-date=2011-08-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref> There were several arrests of protesters against the result and reports of oppositional leaders being beaten by police.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3758032.stm |title= Dozens arrested at Belarus rally|publisher=[[BBC News]] |date=2004-10-19 |accessdate=2010-12-20 }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060708045213/http://www.rec.gov.by/refer/refer2004.html Official 2004 Belarus Rederendum data]

{{Belarusian Elections}}

[[Category:Constitutional amendments]]
[[Category:Referendums in Belarus]]
[[Category:2004 referendums]]
[[Category:2004 in Belarus]]
[[Category:Constitutional referendums in Belarus]]
[[Category:October 2004 in Europe]]