Minsk, Oct. 17, SPA -- An overwhelming majority of Belarusians on Sunday gave their approval allowing authoritarian President Aleksander Lukashenko to run for an unprecedented third term in office. More than 80 per cent of persons surveyed in a nationwide exit poll said that they supported the constitutional referendum on Lukashenko's continued leadership, according to data cited by a government spokeswoman on the national television channel Bel-1. Lukashenko is scheduled to end his second five-year term, the maximum allowed by the constitution, next year. He has run the country since 1994. A former collective farm boss, Lukashenko has used near total control of the media and state repression of opposition politics to argue he should be allowed to continue as president for the good of the nation. Voters were also selecting new members to Belarus' 110-seat parliament. Of the 692 declared candidates, fewer than 30 are from opposition groups hostile to Lukashenko. Some 6,500 polling sites nationwide opened as scheduled at 8 a.m. Turnout was heavy with more than 80 per cent of registered voters having cast their ballots by 6 p.m., according to Lidia Ermoshina, Belarus Central Election Committee chairwoman. Over 15,000 police were on duty providing security at the election sites. The state food supply ministry set up stands with low-price groceries at most sites in a government effort to attract the maximum number of voters, she said. --more 2259 Local Time 1959 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/211640