Belarus elects on national level a head of state—the president—and a legislature. The president is elected for a five-year term by the people. The National Assembly (Нацыянальны сход, Nacyjanaĺny schod) has two chambers. The House of Representatives (Палата прадстаўнікоў, Palata Pradstaŭnikoŭ) has 110 members elected in single-seat constituencies elected for a four-year term. The Council of the Republic (Савет рэспублікі, Saviet Respubliki) has 64 members, 56 members indirectly elected and eight members appointed by the president.

Belarus is a state in which the president, currently Alexander Lukashenko, dominates. Opposition parties are allowed, but are widely considered to have no real chance of gaining power. A report by the Electoral Integrity Project, reviewing worldwide elections for 2015 and released in February 2016, evaluated Belarus as a state "failing to meet international standards of electoral integrity."

In 1994, the first ever elections for the office of President of Belarus took place. Before the adoption of the state constitution, Belarus had a prime minister, and had ever since breaking away from the Soviet Union. At the time, Vyacheslav Kebich was the prime minister. At the end of the first balloting in June 1994, Kebich was slated to face the other candidate, Alexander Lukashenko.

Presidential elections – first round:

Presidential elections – second round:

On 11 April 1995, Parliament rejected three of the four issues to be put to a national referendum on the same day as general elections, and President of the Republic Alexander Lukashenko – in office since July 1994 and a firm advocate of the issues – threatened its dissolution. The proposed referendums concerned closer ties with the Russian Federation and the President's power to dissolve the legislature.

Due especially to the multitude of candidates and the high thresholds required for election, only 18 Deputies were outright victors in the first round of voting and only 101 more (of 432 remaining candidates) in the second on 28 May. The resulting total of 119 fell short of the two-thirds (174) legal quorum which would have allowed the new legislature to sit. Polling for the remaining 141 seats accordingly took place on 29 November, when 865 candidates were in the running. Only 20 Deputies were then returned. On 10 December, runoffs between the two leading candidates were held in the other 121 constituencies; 59 more seats were then filled so that, with an overall total of 198 Deputies definitely chosen, the quorum was finally reached. Due to shortages in the applicable electoral majorities, 62 seats still remained vacant.

The 14 May 1995 Belarus Referendum required the population of Belarus to vote on four issues: