Capital: Minsk
Administrative divisions: 6 voblastsi (singular - voblasts') and one municipality* (harady, singular - horad); Brestskaya (Brest), Homyel'skaya (Homyel'), Horad Minsk*, Hrodzyenskaya (Hrodna), Mahilyowskaya (Mahilyow), Minskaya, Vitsyebskaya (Vitsyebsk)
note: the administrative centers of the voblastsi are included in parentheses

Independence: 25 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)
National holiday: Independence Day, 27 July (1990)

Constitution: adopted 15 March 1994; replaces constitution of April 1978

Legal system: based on civil law system
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:
chief of state: President-elect Aleksandr LUKASHENKO (elected 10 July 1994, but not yet inaugurated) election held June 24 and 10 July 1994 (next to be held NA); Aleksandr LUKASHENKO 80%, Vyacheslav KEBICH 14%
head of government: Prime Minister Vyacheslav F. KEBICH (since NA April 1990; offered his resignation on the election of LUCHASHENKO), First Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail MYASNIKOVICH (since NA 1991)
cabinet: Council of Ministers
note: first presidential elections took place in June-July 1994

Legislative branch: unicameral
Supreme Soviet: elections last held 4 April 1990 (next to be held NA); results - Communists 87%; seats - (360 total) number of seats by party NA; note - 50 seats are for public bodies; the Communist Party obtained an overwhelming majority

Judicial branch: Supreme Court

Political parties and leaders: Belarusian Popular Front (BPF), Zenon PAZNYAK, chairman; United Democratic Party of Belarus (UDPB), Aleksandr DOBROVOLSKIY, chairman; Social Democratic Party of Belarus (SDBP), Mikhail TKACHEV, chairman; Belarus Workers Union, Mikhail SOBOL, Chairman; Belarus Peasants Party; Party of People's Unity, Gennadiy KARPENKO; Movement for Democracy, Social Progress, and Justice (DSPS; includes the Communist Party), Viktor CHIKIN, chairman
Member of: CBSS (observer), CE (guest), CEI (participating), CIS, CSCE, ECE, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IFC, ILO, IMF, INMARSAT, INTELSAT (nonsignatory user), IOC, ITU, NACC, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO

Diplomatic representation in US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Sergey Nikolayevich MARTYNOV
chancery: 1619 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009
telephone: (202) 986-1604
FAX: (202) 986-1805)
US diplomatic representation:
chief of mission: (vacant); Charge d'Affaires George KROL
embassy: Starovilenskaya #46, Minsk
mailing address: use embassy street address
telephone: 7-0172-34-65-37

Flag: three horizontal bands of white (top), red, and white

NOTE: The information regarding Belarus on this page is re-published from the 1995 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Belarus Government 1995 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Belarus Government 1995 should be addressed to the CIA.