Belarus parliament elections

MINSK, 9 August (BelTA) – Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus Vladimir Andreichenko expressed hope for objective assessment of the parliamentary elections by the international community during his meeting with the PACE delegation as part of its pre-electoral visit to Belarus on 9 August, BelTA has learned.

The Speaker emphasized that Belarus does not restrict the number of monitoring missions and the time for their presence in the country. “The elections to the House of Representatives is a very important political event both for the state and the Belarusian society. We have already done a lot and will do our best for the open, transparent and democratic elections so that they could demonstrate the will of the Belarusian people. We want observers and our opponents to have no doubts in these elections, and to have the elections be recognized by the international community,” he stressed.

According to Vladimir Andreichenko, after the presidential election in 2015 the OSCE/ODIHR issued a set of recommendations to improve the election process in Belarus. An interagency taskforce was set up to implement the abovementioned recommendations. The work of the taskforce resulted in the resolution of the Central Election Commission, the development of procedural guidelines for district and precinct commissions, under which foreign and national observers (given their accreditation with district commissions) will be given the right to be present in district election commissions during the presentation of protocols by precinct election commissions. “It is one of the most important moments in the election process,” the Speaker said. Apart from that, foreign and national observers will get information on the number of voters in voters’ lists, and also on the number of voters (including early voting) receiving ballot papers. The interagency taskforce and the CEC also decided that on the election day members of the precinct elections commissions and observers will be located so that monitors could observe the vote tabulation procedure.

“We have done everything to make the election process open and transparent. The participation of various political parties and public associations in the current election campaign testifies to the fact,” said the Speaker. In his words, a total of 630 applications have been filed for 110 seats in the parliament. The number of registered candidates will be announced once the examination of the documents is over.

Vladimir Andreichenko stressed that the House of Representatives is ready to provide assistance to the PACE mission if necessary. “We hope for objective conclusions on the results of the elections,” he said.

Head of the PACE pre-electoral mission in Belarus Gisela Wurm said that she has come to Belarus for the first time and admitted that she has already been impressed with the country’s beauty and hospitality. She has also thanked for the invitation to visit the country for a pre-electoral assessment and presented members of the delegation (representatives of Armenia, Norway, Montenegro, France, Poland, Italy). According to the head of the delegation, such a multinational and representative delegation proves the intention for a maximally unbiased and valid assessment of the forthcoming election event. “As, according to you, your country has been doing its best to prepare for the elections, we, on our part, will do our best for an objective observation of the elections,” Gisela Wurm said.