Yarmoshyna says OSCE standards are “mythical”

The head of the Belarusian Central Election Commission (CEC) said the instructions of the OSCE/ODIHR on election assessment were not progressive and substitute the national legislation.

“There are few documents (among the OSCE documents - Interfax) that really set the rules, in accordance to which states should live and hold elections. Unfortunately, these fundamental documents are often substituted by instructions, issued by any of the OSCE bodies, in particular ODIHR,” Yarmoshyna noted at her Saturday meeting with OSCE PA Vice-President Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev, Interfax-Zapad reports.

As the CEC head said, the international standards are set by a document of the ODIHR.

“In my view, its latest update is a step backward. This is my opinion and the opinion of our Russian colleagues,” Lidziya Yarmoshyna said.

“What is this that makes the document worse and non-progressive, in my view? In accordance with the document, the OSCE observation mission considers the national legislation to be secondary, so commissions (election commissions – Interfax) have to work in compliance with mythical international standards, not with the national legislation,” the Belarusian CEC head emphasized.

She added: “Assessment of compliance with the national laws disappears from conclusions of the OSCE Mission. “ “This is absolutely wrong. This may become an instrument of manipulation, evaluation and attitude toward states. This is absolutely wrong,” the chairwomen of the Belarusian Central Election Commission is convinced.