Voter turnout at the parliamentary and local elections in Belarus stood at 72.98%, chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Igor Karpenko said, Paralel.Az reports citing TASS.

"Voted turnout was 72.98%," he said.

Nearly 5,500 polling stations were open in Belarus from 8:00 a.m. (5:00 a.m. GMT) to 8:00 p.m. on the first unified election day in the country’s history. A total of 263 candidates are seeking to enter the 110-seat House of Representatives (lower house of parliament), and 18,802 hopefuls are competing for 12,514 seats on local councils. There was no overseas voting.