Hundreds of OSCE observers were greatly impressed at the organisation and democratic character of the 2010 presidential elections in Belarus, Mikalai Lazavik, he Secretary of the Central Election Commission, said at the meeting on June 19, 2012.
Nevertheless, “It is not the observers that draw final reports but senior level officials sitting in their offices,” he notes. Lazavik regrets that Belarus does not possess any political ammunition against OSCE observers. “There is a convention on election monitoring criteria in the CIS countries, whereas the OSCE lacks such a document. Sometimes they present us with a fait accompli that their report highlights the state of affairs in a different way, but we do not have an opportunity to affect the situation,” the CEC Secretary said.
Do the Belarusians need an alternative?
After the meeting Lidziya Yarmoshyna, the CEC Chairman, said that the Comission is ready for holding the second voting even at 50% of voting stations. Everything will depend on a number of registered parliamentary candidates. “It is not bad to have an alternative but on the other hand, this deprives a voter of the opportunity to find their position in the first voting,” Yarmoshyna stressed.
The CEC also endorsed the order of appointment and accreditation of national and foreign observers at the parliamentary elections, which are to take place on September 23, 2012.
Belsat
