<item>• <hi format=ital>note:</hi> the administrative centers of the voblastsi are included in parentheses
</list>
<item><hi format=bold>Independence:</hi> 25 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)
<item><hi format=bold>National holiday:</hi> Independence Day, 27 July (1990)
<item><hi format=bold>Constitution:</hi> adopted 15 March 1994; replaces constitution of April 1978
<item><hi format=bold>Legal system:</hi> based on civil law system
<item><hi format=bold>Suffrage:</hi> 18 years of age; universal
<item><hi format=bold>Executive branch:</hi>
<list style=hang>
<item>• <hi format=ital>chief of state:</hi> 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%
<item>• <hi format=ital>head of government:</hi> 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)
<item>• <hi format=ital>cabinet:</hi> Council of Ministers
<item>• <hi format=ital>note:</hi> first presidential elections took place in June-July 1994
<item><hi format=bold>Supreme Soviet:</hi> 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
<item><hi format=bold>Political parties and leaders:</hi> 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
<item><hi format=bold>Member of:</hi> 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
<item><hi format=bold>Diplomatic representation in US:</hi>
<list style=hang>
<item>• <hi format=ital>chief of mission:</hi> Ambassador Sergey Nikolayevich MARTYNOV
<item>• <hi format=ital>chancery:</hi> 1619 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009