BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

17/12/2008

Chairperson of the CEC of Belarus praises CIS role in democratization of electoral processes

Chairperson of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Belarus Lidia Yermoshina praises the role of CIS monitoring mission in the democratization of electoral processes, BelTA has learnt.

Lidia Yermoshina told media on December 17, "Significant progress is obvious. In 2001, when the CIS mission monitored presidential elections in Belarus, it was its first experience of this kind. Today the mission is a real international body within the Commonwealth, one of CIS leading agencies."

A reminder, at its Saint Petersburg session, the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly adopted a declaration on the principles of international observation of elections and referendums in the CIS member states. Senior officials of the Russian Central Election Commission believe that the OSCE should adhere to similar standards of election monitoring. Lidia Yermoshina told BelTA that the Belarusian CEC would like to see this document adopted by the OSCE, too. In her opinion, however, "it is very unlikely that such document will be adopted within the framework of the OSCE, because it will too much oblige the states of western democracy to adhere to it. "The Copenhagen document they stick to was developed in the 1990s, during the collapse of the socialist system. This document was meant to supervise the processes underway in the new, reformed states. I think, the OSCE does not intend to introduce additional standards to monitor electoral processes in the western states, the states of the old democracy," Lidia Yermoshina said.

According to her, the CIS is the only institution where the observation is carried out in line with international standards. "Everything that is done beyond the Commonwealth is often represented by some limited missions, a fictitious symbol of international observation. A group of 20 people that visited the US or a group of 12 people that visited Poland can hardly be called an observation mission," Lidia Yermoshina said. She underlined that it is the CIS that has gained greatest experience of international electoral observation.

Source:

http://news-en.trend.az/cis/belarus/1374030.html

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