Presidential election 2015 in Belarus

MINSK, 13 October (BelTA) – Belarus’ Central Election Commission is satisfied with the preliminary findings and conclusions of the OSCE election observation mission which were released yesterday, CEC chairperson Lidia Yermoshina told reporters, BelTA has learned.

"I can say that the Central Election Commission is satisfied with the OSCE mission findings on the observation of the election," noted Lidia Yermoshina.

"Over the years of international monitoring by the OSCE mission in our country it is the first time that we have received a report which contains conclusions and lists the events not only from the negative side, but which also notes many positive things. The finings indicate many good things and we need to be proud of this,” said Lidia Yermoshina.

In particular, she drew attention that the mission takes note of the environment prior to the election, friendliness and openness of all members of election commissions, their cooperation with the mission, and the excellent work media which provided the campaigning opportunities, without any censoring, to the presidential candidates.

"The OSCE preliminary findings read that the voting process was assessed positively in 95% of observations. I would like to emphasize that this is a very high assessment of the voting procedure. There were shortcomings related to the transparency and clarity of the work of precinct election commissions during the vote count. The number of cases where members of the mission made remarks decreased in comparison with the 2012 parliamentary election. In this respect I would like to stress that the OSCE election observation mission did its best to work objectively. The organizers of the presidential election also put every effort to make the electoral process maximally open and the vote count honest. Observers made their objective conclusions,” said the CEC head.

Lidia Yermoshina also informed media that she held a meeting with OSCE representatives in connection with the expiry of its election observation mission in Belarus. “We shared opinions on the observation process and the election itself, and outlined prospects for future cooperation. I thanked the mission and its leadership for try to see the events that take place in our country in an unbiased way,” she added.