Belarus parliament elections

MINSK, 15 August (BelTA) – Belarus will do everything necessary to hold the summer session the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe at a high organizational level, Chairman of the House of Representatives Vladimir Andreichenko said as he met with Vice President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and OSCE Special Coordinator for the parliamentary elections in Belarus Kent Harstedt, BelTA has learned.

Minsk will host the 26th session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly on 5-9 July in 2017. Vladimir Andreichenko expressed appreciation to Kent Harstedt, who, according to the Speaker, made a considerable contribution to Belarus winning the bid to host the event. “We will do whatever is necessary to ensure that the session should be held at a decent level. A number of organizational arrangements are currently underway. We are working on the agenda of the session,” the Chairman of the House of Representatives said.

Speaking about the forthcoming parliamentary elections, Vladimir Andreichenko expressed hope for the unbiased final assessment by international observers. He noted that in addition to European colleagues Belarus invited the Parliamentary Assembly of the Belarus-Russia Union Sate, CIS IPA, CSTO PA, CIS Executive Committee, SCO to monitor the elections. According to the Speaker, Belarus has put no restrictions on either the size of the mission or the length of stay in the country.

Vladimir Andreichenko briefed Kent Harstedt on the progress of the parliamentary campaign, noting that the pre-election campaigning has already begun. According to the Speaker, it is important that the political competition should not go beyond the legislation and should be constructive. “We must not allow that such values as peace, order and the rule of law get questioned. This should be the axiom for all participants in the electoral process. Our election code is consistent with international standards. We have introduced a number of procedural changes following the OSCE/ODIHR recommendations after the presidential election 2015,” the Speaker noted. Vladimir Andreichenko recalled that an interdepartmental expert group has been set up at the Central Election Commission to work out the proposals for the improvement of the electoral legislation. It will continue to work after the parliamentary elections.

For his part, Kent Harstedt said that as for working conditions, he feels comfortable in Belarus. He noted that a year ago he already worked in the country as an observer at the presidential elections. Now he is back as a special coordinator of the mission of short-term observers, which gives him the possibility to compare.

Kent Harstedt expressed the hope for fruitful cooperation with the Belarusian side.

Members of the OSCE PA and PACE usually take part in short observation as part of an international election observation mission under the auspices of the OSCE/ODIHR. It is planned that the OSCE PA monitoring mission consisting of 70 to 100 people will arrive in Belarus a few days before the elections. So far, the CEC has accredited two observers from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

The elections to the House of Representatives are due on 11 September.