Minsk, Jan 27 (IANS): Incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko is leading the 2025 Belarus presidential election with 87.6 per cent of the vote, according to the first exit poll cited by the Belarusian Committee of Youth Organisations.

The exit poll showed that the other four candidates received the following percentages of the vote: Oleg Gaidukevich 1.8 per cent, Alexander Khizhnyak 1.2 per cent, Anna Kanopatskaya 1.6 per cent and Sergei Syrankov 2.7 per cent. 5.1 per cent voted against all candidates.

The head of state is considered elected if a candidate is supported by more than half of the voters.

The presidential election kicked off in Belarus earlier on Sunday with polling stations opened at 8:00 a.m. (0500 GMT) and closed at 8 p.m. (1700 GMT).

Voters casted their ballots at 5,325 polling stations nationwide and the number of voters stands at about 6.9 million, according to the country's Central Election Commission.

Early voting for the country's presidential election took place from January 21 to 25.

The Central Election Commission said Saturday that 41.81 per cent of eligible voters have cast their ballots during the five-day early voting session, which is organised for those unable to vote on the election day.

Earlier, the Central Election Commission had confirmed formation of polling stations for the presidential elections in the country.

The president is elected for five-year terms. A two-term limit, reintroduced by 2022 amendments to the constitution, will be imposed after the election.

According to the law, Belarus' president is chosen through direct elections and a candidate winning more than 50 per cent of the vote will be elected. If no candidate achieves this majority, the two leading candidates will enter a second round, in which the candidate who receives a simple majority wins.

Presidential elections take place every five years. In the last election on August 9, 2020, Lukashenko was reelected president for the sixth time with 80.1 per cent of the vote.