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On the National Referendum
On September 8, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko
signed a Decree "On the Holding of the National Referendum".
The President submitted the following question to the
referendum: "Do you allow first president of the Republic of Belarus
Alexander Lukashenko to participate in the Presidential election as a
candidate for the post of the President of the Republic of Belarus and do
you accept part 1 of article 81 of the Constitution of the Republic of
Belarus in the wording that follows: "The President shall be elected
directly by the people of the Republic of Belarus for a term of five years
by universal, free, equal, direct and secret ballot?".
The referendum will be held together with the Parliamentary
elections on October 17, 2004.
(Full text of the Address of the President of Belarus to
Belarusian people may be found at
http://president.gov.by/eng/president/speech/2004/obr.html).
International Observers to Watch
Parliamentary Elections and Referendum
International observers, who have arrived in Belarus to
observe the Parliamentary Elections, will also follow the course of the
National Referendum.
Two election campaigns will be conducted simultaneously.
Foreign observers will monitor the counting of votes of the two campaigns.
The Belarusian side provides international experts with
transportation for trips to polling stations. Belarus expects about 500
observers including the OSCE experts, members of the Central election
commissions and parliamentarians from the CIS member-states.
Seventy-three national observers have been registered in all
district commissions and the Central commission. Thus, 8 observers have been
accredited each in Brest, Vitebsk and Grodno oblasts, 14, in Gomel oblasts
commissions, 7, in Mogilev, 1 (representing Belarusian Helsinki committee)
in Minsk oblast, 24, in district commissions of the capital city and 3, in
the Central election commission.
National observers will monitor the work of election
commissions. They are authorized to attend the commissions sittings, to
visit the polling stations during voting, to watch the procedure of counting
votes and drawing up a protocol. They can also appeal the actions of the
election bodies and make up a corresponding act. In contrast to
international observers national experts cannot make public the results of
the observation at news conferences and briefings.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus
Meets Head of OSCE International Observation Mission for Elections
On September 6, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Sergey
Martynov had a meeting with Audrey Glover, the Head of the OSCE
International Observation Mission for the Elections to the Chamber of
Representatives of the National Assembly.
The mission formation and its activity were discussed in the
course of the meeting.
Sergey Martynov stressed that Belarusian authorities had
taken every effort to ensure free, fair and democratic elections according
to the national legal system and international obligations. Sergey Martynov
also paid attention to the openness of the Belarusian side that had extended
an invitation to the OSCE to conduct full-scale observation of the elections
to the National Assemblys Chamber of Representatives. As Sergey Martynov
emphasized, the mission of international observers should follow the
principles of objectivity and impartiality.
Audrey Glover noted that all international observers would
adhere to the OSCE code of an observers conduct and would avoid biased
approach in the work.
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