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UN Special Rapporteur About “Elections” In Belarus: “Neither Free Nor Fair”

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UN Special Rapporteur About “Elections” In Belarus: “Neither Free Nor Fair”
Miklós Haraszti

No progress was made in serving the Belarusians’ right to free and fair election.

This conclusion has been made by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Belarus, Miklós Haraszti,

“The election process was orchestrated, and the result was pre-ordained,” Mr. Haraszti said. “It could not be otherwise, given the 20 years of continuous suppression of the rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and association, which are the preconditions for any credible competition”.

The expert noted that neither international, nor local independent election observers could verify the official claims of 86 per cent voter turnout or 84 per cent endorsement of Lukashenka, tut.by writes.

“Such high scores have never been claimed in elections in Europe since the end of the Soviet Union,” he stressed. The observers’ documentations highlighted that not even the four days of coerced participation at closed voting premises, nor early voting could give up the stated numbers, Mr. Haraszti underlined.

The UN Special Rapporteur also added that there were a high number of allegations of “election-day” fraud, such as undocumented handling of voter lists and ballots, voting on behalf of others, carrousel voting, ballot stuffing, voting without proper documents, and mobile voting abuses.

In 2013, the Special Rapporteur had presented his report to the UN General Assembly on human rights in electoral processes. The report made several recommendations. Yet, none of these suggestions were implemented, he said. In particular, Mr. Haraszti attracted attention to the need to create independent election commissions with a pluralistic composition, to initiate debates between candidates on national television, as TV channels in Belarus are controlled by the state.

Mr. Haraszti also called attention to the intimidating environment of the electoral campaign. Calls for boycott of the elections were criminalized since the last elections. Though political prisoners have been pardoned, none of them have been reinstated in their political and civil rights, the UN Special Rapporteur notes.

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