14 September, Minsk /Lyudmila Sats - BELTA/. Presidential elections in Belarus have been scheduled for December 19, 2010. This decision was made today at a meeting of the 5th extraordinary session of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus, a BELTA correspondent reports. All 108 deputies present unanimously voted for this date. In accordance with the Constitution of Belarus and the Electoral Code, the House of Representatives shall appoint presidential elections no later than five months before the expiration of the term of office of the President of Belarus. They shall be held no later than two months before the expiration of the term of office of the previous President. Thus, according to current legislation, the presidential elections in Belarus should be held no later than February 6, 2011. As reported, when determining the election date, the Standing Commission on State Building, Local Self-Government and Regulations proceeded from the need to ensure maximum citizen participation in the election campaign and to hold it at a time convenient for voters. Holding the elections before the end of the year will allow, without losing time on the electoral process, to begin implementing the tasks of the country's socio-economic development for the next year and five-year period literally from the beginning of 2011. In addition, the beginning of the year is full of secular and religious holidays, so this period is not entirely convenient for holding elections. After the announcement of the proposed date, a discussion on this issue broke out among the deputies. In particular, deputies were interested in the date of the second round of elections, in case it is needed. The fact is that the second round of elections usually takes place two weeks after the first. Thus, if the first round of elections takes place on December 19, 2010, the second round will fall on January 2, 2011. In this regard, the Chairman of the Standing Commission on State Building, Local Self-Government and Regulations, Vasily Baikov, explained that Article 80 of the Electoral Code of the Republic of Belarus clearly stipulates that for the second round of voting, the Central Election Commission sets the election date no later than two weeks after the first round. Thus, the second round of presidential elections in Belarus may be scheduled earlier than January 2, 2011.