Belarus parliament elections

In accordance with the law, the authorities have set up city and district election commissions, organized their work, designated venues for signature collections and for campaigning, Andrei Shorets said. “We seek to make the elections as transparent as possible. Our goal is to ensure that they are independent, democratic and that the authorities do not intervene in this process,” the Minsk Mayor said.

The largest number of parliamentary candidates in Belarus has been registered in Minsk, 117 in 20 districts. “Their qualifications and places of work give reason to expect that the elections will be fairly active,” Andrei Shorets said.

OSCE representatives Nurul Rakhimbekov and Hildegard Christine Rogler-Mochel explained the methodology of observing the parliamentary elections in Belarus.

The observation mission for parliamentary elections of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights was deployed in Belarus at the end of July. The Mission's core team consists of 10 experts in Minsk, and 38 long-term observers in the regions. Another 400 short-term observers will arrive a few days before the voting day.

As of 12 August, the Belarusian Central Election Commission accredited 51 OSCE/ODIHR observers. Representatives of the OSCE PA and PACE will join the OSCE/ODIHR short term observation mission on the voting day, 11 September.