IISEPS reported that 45.7% of respondents said they would vote for the incumbent president when answering both an open-ended and a closed-ended question.
The IISEPS September survey also found that Lukashenka was followed by Tatsyana Karatkevich with 17.9% support (in response to a closed-ended question) and 7.2% support (in response to an open-ended question).
The two remaining contenders in the presidential race, Syarhey Haydukevich and Mikalay Ulakhovich, were supported by 11.4% (4.7%) and 3.6% (1.5%) of respondents, respectively.
The closed-ended question limited respondents with a list of five candidates whose support groups were registered by the Central Election Commission (Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Tatsyana Karatkevich, Syarhey Haydukevich, Mikalay Ulakhovich, Viktar Tsyareshchanka). The open-ended question did not mention any names.
According to IISEPS, 72 percent of Belarusians plan to vote in the upcoming presidential election. Belarus’s polling stations open for early voting on October 6 and will be closed on October 11.
IISEPS, banned by the Lukashenka regime in 2005, has since then continued its operation from Vilnius in Lithuania. Its findings often draw criticism among the Belarusian opposition circles as incapable of being verified, since no independent pollster is allowed to work from within Belarus.
