Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Polling stations for the presidential elections have opened in Belarus. Earlier, the turnout for five days of early voting was 41.7%, BelTA informed.

The elections of the President of Belarus are direct. The head of state is directly elected by the Belarusian people. Voting is secret. Elections are considered valid if more than half of the citizens included in the voter list took part in the voting. The head of state is considered elected if he is supported by more than half of the voters who took part in the voting.

Five people are registered as presidential candidates: Andrey Dmitriev, Anna Kanopatskaya, Alexander Lukashenko, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, Sergey Cherecheni. The CEC has formed 153 territorial election commissions and 5723 precinct commissions. 5,767 polling stations were formed, including 231 in sanatoriums, dispensaries, rest homes, hospitals and other healthcare organizations providing medical care in stationary conditions, 13 in military units and 44 outside Belarus.

Polling stations will open at 8.00. 6 836 585 people will be able to vote in the current elections.

248 international and almost 50 thousand national observers will follow the course of the election campaign.

The President of Belarus is elected for a term of five years. Thus, the next presidential elections will have to take place no later than 2025.