Belarus' parliamentary polls considered valid in 109 out of 110 constituencies

The elections of deputies to the lower house of the parliament of Belarus are considered valid in 109 out of 110 districts, Chairperson of the Belarusian Central Election Commission (CEC) Lidia Yermoshina said on Sunday.

"Only one electoral district (Grodno Central electoral district) is several percents away from the 50% turnout requirement," Yermoshina said.

As of 6:00 p.m. local time, voter turnout reached 70.72 percent -- 69.33 percent of voters casted their ballots in Brest region, 76.32 percent in Vitebsk region, 74.18 percent in Gomel region, 72.36 percent in Grodno region, 71.9 percent in Minsk region, 77.63 percent in Mogilev region and 58.76 percent in the city of Minsk.

The one-round parliamentary elections are supposed to elect 110 deputies out of the 513 candidates for the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the 7th Convocation.

Elections are considered valid if more than half of the voters in the election district participated in the voting. Some 35.77 percent of voters participated in the early voting from Tuesday to Saturday, according to the CEC.