Bundestag deputy: Elections in Belarus are pseudo-democracy

Bundestag has urged the government of Germany “to give it to understand to Belarusian authorities that everything possible should be done for the upcoming and future presidential elections to meet the respective standards of the OSCE.”

It had been said in the statement of the German ruling coalition made in the framework of its session on December 16, BelaPAN informs.

The statement stresses the importance of equal opportunities for the candidates, access to mass media, participation of each candidate’s representatives in election commissions. Necessity of ensuring free secret vote and access of observers to all electoral processes and information related to them is underlined.

However, MPs express a concern that “the election controlled by the state serves for pseudo-democratic legitimization of Alyaksandr Lukashenka in the presidential position.” MPs told about violations during collection of signatures for candidates’ registration, when administrative leverage was used, and also about violation of human rights, limitation of freedom of speech, meetings and association.

“Legal arbitrariness is used by the Belarusian authorities as a means of pressure. Arbitrary arrests, trails and fines are used to intimidate critics and opposition,” the statement reads.

Deputies of the ruling parties of Germany have called upon the German government to continue to exert any possible pressure on the Belarusian government for them to abolish the capital punishment or impose a moratorium on it; to support respect for human rights, the rule of law, rights of minorities in the framework of bilateral and multilateral relations, and to oppose polituically motivated trials.”