Yarmoshyna didn’t invite OSCE/ODIHR mission to “elections”

According to the head of the Central Election Commission (CEC), the Belarusian authorities can decide themselves to what elections international observers can be invited.

The OSCE Office on Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) wasn’t invited to the local council “elections”. CEC head Lidzia Yarmoshyna said this today at a session of the commission.

She said Belarus had the right to invite international observers to local council “elections”. “But we have an established practice of inviting international observers only to national elections – presidential or parliamentary. We are going to follow this practice,” Radio Svaboda quotes Yarmoshyna.

Lidzia Yarmoshyna noted that representatives of the diplomatic missions accredited in Belarus could observe the local council “elections”. She called this step a “goodwill gesture”. As it is known, 50 diplomats from 24 countries applied to the CEC for accreditation at the local council “elections”. The United States (5 people) as well as Sweden and Lithuania (4 people) are the most wide represented countries.

We remind that MEPs said on March 24 they would like to come to Belarus to observe the local council “elections”. They want to see how the amendments in the electoral legislation will be used and if real changes in this area will take place.