European People’s Party: Local elections in Belarus dominated by falsifications and suppression
Only by strengthening democracy in the country will the authorities in Belarus be able to reinforce the country’s sovereignty and independence, the largest parliamentary formation in the EP believes.
The authorities of Belarus have not made any steps to bring the electoral process into compliance with the criteria of free and fair elections in accordance with OSCE standards, European People’s Party (EPP) President Joseph Daul states.
The EPP is the EU’s centre-right party and its largest and most influential political family. The EPP currently includes 79 parties and partners from 41 countries, the Presidents of the European Commission, the European Council, and of the European Parliament, 9 EU and 5 non-EU heads of state and government, 14 members of the European Commission and the largest Group in the European Parliament (216 seats of 750).
“These elections, like many others, have been dominated by massive falsifications, suppression of the opposition representatives, unfair formation of election commissions, media manipulation, and attacks on the independent media, the statement reads.
According to them, the people of Belarus have been once again deprived of their freedom of expression, information and of their rights to democratically choose their local representatives.
“The authorities must immediately reform the electoral law according to OSCE standards. It must allow for the registration of civil and political organisations, such as Belarusian Christian Democracy Party and NGO Spring96; it must also stop persecuting the opposition and the independent media outlets, in particular the Belarus Partisan and Charter 97.”
Belsat journalists and independent observers uncovered massive violations of the electoral code during the Sunday elections. Belsat TV cameraman Andrus Kozel was severely beaten by the police at a polling station in Minsk. Our colleague, an observer at the elections to local councils of deputies, was livestreaming the process of voting on his Facebook.
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18,110 deputies were elected to the local councils of Belarus on February, 18. Early voting kicked off in Belarus on February, 13. There might have been many rigged votes from Tuesday till Saturday, observers warn.
