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PRESS RELEASE
On
Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus on
the 2006 Presidential Elections in Belarus
Washington,
D.C.,
March 23,
2006
On 19
March, the presidential elections took place in Belarus. According to the
preliminary results by the Central Commission of the Republic of Belarus for
Elections and All-Nation Referenda, Alexander Lukashenko received 82.6
percent of the votes cast and came out as the winner of the elections. The
92.6 percent turnover was unprecedented.
The
elections were conducted in full compliance with the state Constitution and
national legislation. The Belarusian people have made their choice in favor
of further strengthening the national statehood and raising the level of
well-being.
The
Belarusian authorities have done enormous work on the electoral process
preparation so that every citizen could fully use his/her constitutional
right to elect and to be elected.
This was
made possible due to ensuring genuine competition between alternative
candidates participating in the elections. The people could really decide
between different political programs.
The
elections preparation and their conduct were monitored by over 30 thousand
domestic observers, and more than 1200 international observers invited by
Belarus, both independent ones and representing a number of international
structures which Belarus is a member of. In the opinion of the majority of
the observers, particularly that of the Commonwealth of Independent States
observation mission, the electoral campaign and the elections themselves
were conducted in compliance with the electoral code currently in force and
Belarus’ international commitments on conducting democratic elections,
notwithstanding the unprecedented outside pressure.
Guided by
the principle of openness and the 1990 OSCE Copenhagen document, Belarus had
also invited in advance the OSCE ODIHR and OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to
observe the presidential elections. Despite the serious complaints with
regard to the ODIHR objectivity and working methods previously made with our
involvement by a whole number of the OSCE participating states, the
Belarusian authorities provided for the constructive cooperation with the
OSCE mission and created all the necessary conditions for its activities.
By inviting
the OSCE mission, the Belarusian side sought once more to make sure whether
the OSCE ODIHR was capable of approaching its work responsibly and
professionally, and make an objective assessment of the elections.
The OSCE
monitoring mission activities in Belarus have once again demonstrated that
the ODIHR is an instrument for pronouncing of verdicts formulated in advance
from outside.
The
Belarusian side does not agree with the preliminary conclusions and findings
of the OSCE mission on monitoring the presidential elections in Belarus.
They distort the reality and do not take into account the open and
democratic character of the elections process in Belarus.
The
numerous serious and systemic shortcomings in the ODIHR methods are on the
surface: neglect of the opinion of their own observers – members of the
mission while formulating the findings and conclusions; usage of
non-verified or exclusively negative information in their work; violation by
the OSCE observers of their status, their own procedural rules and
established criteria for formation of monitoring missions.
The OSCE
mission work has proved that there is a critical necessity in reforming the
OSCE ODIHR activities in the sphere of elections monitoring, as Belarus has
repeatedly stated within the OSCE framework.
Without
conducting a comparative analysis of electoral legislation and practices of
all participating states, improving the OSCE ODIHR monitoring methodology,
as well as elaborating uniform criteria for election assessment and
formation of ODIHR missions, the ODIHR subsequent activities in the
elections sphere will only contribute to creation of tension in the OSCE
area.
Belarus is
about to send to the Chairman-in-Office and the ODIHR Director its detailed
critical remarks and proposals with regard to the ODIHR activities. We
expect that they will be taken into account in the report to be submitted to
the OSCE Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs scheduled for December 2006
in Brussels, as well as in concrete decisions by the participating states on
reform of this OSCE institute.
Belarus
also regrets that the ODIHR distorted conclusions were prematurely used by
representatives of certain states and international organizations in their
statements made on the verge of interfering into the Belarusian internal
affairs. This fact only proves that they had prejudged the elections results
well in advance of their actual conducting.
Minsk, March 22, 2006 |
