BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

01/10/2008

Czechs join criticism of Belarussian elections

By CTK

Prague/Minsk/Brussels/New York - Sunday's parliamentary elections in Belarus did not fully correspond with European standards despite minor improvements, the Czech Foreign Ministry said in a statement it gave CTK last night.

Observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) who monitored the elections and the United States also criticised the Belarussian elections on Monday.

The Czech Foreign Ministry said strengthening of a dialogue between Belarus and the European Union depended on the Belarussian government's subsequent steps.

The Czech Republic is prepared to discuss the possibilities of such a dialogue with its partners in the EU in the event of Belarus showing interest in it, its statement said.

This is also true of bilateral Czech-Belarussian relations, the ministry said, adding that the Czech Republic was permanently interested in economic cooperation with Belarus and in the possibility of a political dialogue.

Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU commissioner responsible for external relations and European neighbourhood policy, stressed it was now important for the European Union to find the best method of relations with Belarus, its government and its people.

The dialogue should contain the means aimed at the strengthening of the respect towards democratic principles, the rule of law and human rights, in harmony with the international commitments Belarus has pledged to observe, Ferrero-Waldner said.

In the elections, none of the 70 opposition candidates won a seat in the Belarussian parliament.

The OSCE observers from dozens of countries agreed in their assessment report that the parliamentary elections in Belarus that the West beforehand perceived as a test of the openness of President Alexandr Lukashenko's authoritarian regime, were not democratic.

The OSCE said in its report that despite "minor improvements," the parliamentary election in Belarus "ultimately fell short of OSCE commitments for democratic elections."

The report said that the vote was "generally well conducted, but the process deteriorated considerably during the vote count" as observers were hindered from seeing the counting in 35 percent of cases.

"Several cases of deliberate falsification of results were observed," the report said.

Source:

http://www.praguemonitor.com/en/434/czech_national_news/28664/

Google
 


Partners:
Face.by Social Network
Face.by