– Voting began today as Belarusians went to the polls to elect a new president.Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. today and will continue until 8 p.m. with the participation of more than 450 international observers from 49 countries, in the absence of western observers.Five candidates have been registered for the presidential election, including incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko.The authorities did not open polling stations abroad, citing the lack of security measures at polling stations previously set up on the territory of other countries, and the reduction of the number of Belarusian diplomatic personnel in some countries.Belarus was part of the Soviet Union until its collapse in 1991. The Slavic country of 9 million people is sandwiched between Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. The last three are members of NATO.
