Yarmoshyna has no plans to retire

The head of the Central Election Commission (CEC) plans to keep her post and work in the next “parliamentary elections”.

“My term of office expires in December 2016. I will have to hold the next parliamentary elections if I am lucky,” Lidzia Yarmoshyna told journalists on Friday in Minsk.

The CEC head says there are no political prisoners in the country, Interfax news agency reports.

“As for 'political prisoners', I've already said at a meeting with OSCE representatives that there are no 'political prisoners' in Belarus,” Yarmoshyna said on Friday.

“There are persons imprisoned for committing criminal offences, among those relating to violence and threat to the life of CEC members. They don't differ from those who were met with rubber bullets in Madrid,” the CEC head said.