MINSK (AFP) - Voters in Belarus agreed to change the constitution to allow autocratic President Alexander Lukashenko to retain power indefinitely in a referendum denounced by foreign observers as biased and distorted.
More than 77 percent of registered voters in this impoverished former Soviet republic voted 'yes' to Lukashenko's proposal to do away with the two-term limit on the presidency enshrined in the constitution, election officials said.
Lukashenko, whose hardline rule and human rights record have been condemned by the West, may run for election to a third term in 2006 and for as many terms after that as he likes as a result of the vote Sunday.
The controversial referendum, held in tandem with nationwide elections for a new parliament that Lukashenko vowed would hold no representation of his political opponents, was criticized by international observers.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) blasted the referendum for "its unrestrained bias and its unregulated intrusion into polling stations."
It "contributed to a highly distorted campaign environment" for the simultaneous legislative elections which, the OSCE said in a statement, "fell significantly short" of democratic standards.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the United States stood with the OSCE in pointing out "electoral misconduct (that) continued throughout the voting and vote-tabulation process," and noted that independent exit polls showed far different results from those announced by Belarusian officials.
"It does not look like the voters of Belarus were given a fair choice or a fair chance to express their choice."
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the parliamentary elections "fell short of being free and fair."
"Regarding the referendum, we have already expressed our concern about the fact that it took place under unsatisfying circumstances."
Opposition leaders also attacked the voting and around 2,000 opposition supporters gathered Monday evening at a central square in Minsk near the presidential residence to demonstrate their anger at the outcome.
"I cannot stay at home and watch this and not do a thing. I fear that he will make himself president for life," said Katerina, 23, as baton-wielding police officers herded some 20 protesters into waiting mini-buses.
Shouts of "Shame! Shame!" rose from the crowd as a large-screen television on the square showed Lukashenko speaking on a state-run network after the vote and protesters held a white banner bearing one word: "Nyet!" (No).
Anti-riot police scuffled with some protesters as they blocked off the road leading to the presidential residence.
The Belarus leader, a 50-year-old former collective farm director, has been defiant in the face of criticism of his rule and as he cast his ballot on Sunday he told the West to mind its own business.
"I think that you have similar problems. You should be working on those," Lukashenko said in response to a question on Western concerns that the vote may be fraudulent.
Results from the legislative elections were not immediately available, but the OSCE flatly described that vote as illegitimate.
"Democratic principles were largely disregarded by the authorities," the organization said. "State media demonstrated a strong bias, portraying the opposition in overwhelmingly negative terms."
Belarusian opposition leaders voiced outrage at the vote.
"The population is in shock," Anatoly Lebedko, a member of the liberal Citizen Party, said at a news conference with other opposition leaders.
"Voters, the majority of whom voted 'no', do not understand" what happened, he said.
Vintsuk Vyachorka, leader of the opposition National Front Party, told reporters earlier that the voting was marked by "large-scale fraud."
"It is a farce," he said.
Despite the storm of criticism, the Russian foreign ministry released a statement saying the vote had been conducted legally, without violence and in a transparent manner.
The decision to allow Lukashenko to run again for office "is the choice of the Belarusian people and it must be respected," the Russian statement said.
"On the whole, from our point of view, the results of the election campaign in Belarus reflected a cross-section of general opinion in the republic."