[2] All of Lukashenko's proposals were approved, namely changing Belarus's national day, amending the constitution, and retaining the death penalty and a ban on land sales.
[2] The referendum, like its 1995 predecessor, was condemned by international organizations including the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, as falling far short of democratic standards, while others said it was a further consolidation of Lukashenko's dictatorship.
The ensuing power struggle escalated quickly, leading to intervention by Russian officials to try and negotiate a compromise that included declaring that the referendum would not be binding.
[8] Syamyon Sharetski, speaker of parliament, called the 1996 referendum "a farce and violence against the people" and said that "the outcome of such a plebiscite could not be accepted either in Belarus nor by the international community".
[13] The Washington Post has also described the 1996 referendum in Belarus as a "bloodless coup d'etat", stating that "although the Belarussian president has dressed up his power grab in the garments of democracy, there is not much dispute about the illegitimacy of his actions.