Belarus parliament elections

Belarus’ MFA communicates its position on observation mission findings to OSCE ODIHR

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MINSK, 26 November (BelTA) – Belarusian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Oleg Kravchenko met with Head of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Election Observation Mission Cornelia Willemien Anke Jonker on 25 November, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“The Belarusian side shared its views on the preliminary findings of the international election observation mission that was deployed in Belarus,” the ministry informed.
 
A reminder, on 25 November Belarus Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei said that while criticizing Belarus’ electoral process, international observers should take note of positive things as well. “It is important that a mission coming to monitor elections should not only criticize negative things related to electoral processes and voting results, but also pay attention to some positive things,” the minister said.

Vladimir Makei noted that he would not dramatize the OSCE’s assessment of the Belarusian elections. “I think that our European partners will take this assessment into consideration while shaping their policy towards Belarus. However, I would like to reiterate: we were absolutely open while conducting these elections. Over a thousand observers representing various organizations and countries had an opportunity to monitor the elections at all polling stations. By the way, not all countries even in the European Union can boast capacities for international election observation,” he said.

The minister assured that Belarus will continue a dialogue with its European and American partners, including in the matters related to electoral legislation improvement. “We are absolutely open for a dialogue and are ready for it. I think that we will finally come to terms,” Vladimir Makei noted. He assured that Belarus will submit its remarks to corresponding structures of the OSCE ODIHR regarding the work of the OSCE mission. “We hope that these remarks will be taken into account while drafting the final report on Belarus’ parliamentary elections,” he said.

Anatoly Glaz, Head of the Information and Digital Diplomacy Office, Press Secretary of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also commented on the international assessment of the parliamentary elections on 19 November. He informed that Belarus had got familiar with the statements of the international observation missions following the parliamentary elections in Belarus. The statement of the European External Action Service was also taken note of. “In this connection we would like to remind everyone that there are no ideal election systems and one can find flaws in any election process in any country in the OSCE area,” he said. Anatoly Glaz emphasized that Belarus had shown maximum transparency and invited a record high number of international observers to monitor the elections. According to many of them, the election campaign was conducted in a calm, organized, open, transparent and competitive manner, in full compliance with the national legislation and international obligations of the country. That was confirmed, in particular, by the statements of the CIS and SCO missions.

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