BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

05/01/2007

Belarusian Prosecutors Reject Appeal Over President's Confession That Ballot Was Rigged

The Prosecutor-General's Office has notified Anatol Lyabedzka, chairman of the opposition United Civic Party, that it has rejected his appeal to launch an investigation over President Lukashenka's statement that the 2006 presidential election was rigged, Belapan reported on January 4. Speaking to a group of Ukrainian reporters in Minsk in November, Lukashenka claimed that he actually won many more votes than announced by the election authorities (see "RFE/RL Newsline," November 24, 2006). "Yes, we falsified the last election. I have already told the Westerners [about this]. As many as 93.5 percent of voters voted for President Lukashenka. But they said this was not a 'European' result. So we made it 86 [percent]," Lukashenka admitted in November. The Prosecutor-General's Office replied to Lyabedzka that it does not have evidence of election falsification. "Interestingly, I had appealed directly to the prosecutor-general but received the reply from a departmental chief. This means that the office's top-ranking officials are reluctant to assume responsibility for the rule of law in the country," Lyabedzka told Belapan. JM

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2007/01/3-cee/cee-050107.asp