MINSK, 18 August (BelTA) – Over 350 foreign observers got accredited to monitor the elections to Belarus’ House of Representatives due on 11 September, BelTA learned from the website of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Belarus.
The CEC has accredited 297 observers from the CIS, including 33 from the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly. The CIS election observation mission led by Sergei Lebedev was deployed to Belarus in early July. It is expected that the CIS mission will consist of 350-400 long-term and short-term observers. A group of international long-term observers from the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly have already arrived in Minsk.
A total of 51 observers will represent the OSCE/ODIHR. The ODIHR mission launched its election observation in late July. The key team consists of 10 experts working in Minsk and 38 long-term observers in regions. Another 400 short-term observers will arrive in the country several days prior to the election day.
The ODIHR international observation mission will also include short-term observers from the OSCE PA and PACE. Seven observers were accredited to represent PACE and 2 - the OSCE PA.
It is also expected that partaking in the short-term observation of the elections in Belarus will be the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Representatives of the central election commissions of other countries will also be invited.
More than 520 candidates have been registered to take part in the elections to the House of Representatives.