Presidential election 2015 in Belarus

MINSK, 30 June (BelTA) – The Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe expects that the forthcoming presidential election in Belarus will be transparent and will offer equal opportunities to every candidate, BelTA learned from OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Vice President Kent Harstedt on 30 June.

The OSCE PA representative stated he hopes that the Belarusian side had learned from the previous experience. “I hope that we will see a free and open election campaign… We have high expectations regarding improvements and development,” he mentioned.

Apart from that, Kent Harstedt stressed that the Belarus president had stated his intention to invite OSCE PA observers. This organization is starting the relevant preparations for monitoring the election just like the Council of Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

According to Kent Harstedt, the time before the election day is as important as the election day. He stressed the importance of giving the candidates an equal opportunity to take part in the campaign, including equal access to mass media and efforts to ensure freedom of speech.