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Statement by international observers from the Commonwealth of Independent
States
on the results of observation of the preparation and holding of elections to
the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of
Belarus and Republican referendum
Organization of Observation and Legal Framework
In accordance with the decision of the Council of CIS Heads of States of
September 16, 2004 and upon the invitation of the Belarusian side
international observers from the Commonwealth of Independent States took
part in monitoring of the preparation and holding of elections to the House
of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus and
Republican referendum.
Long-term observation of the election process was carried out from September
6, 2004 after the accreditation of the first group of the CIS international
observers.
CIS international observers have been performing their functions openly and
independently, in compliance with the Belarusian law and without interfering
in the election process. We have been carrying out our activity according to
the regulations adopted within the framework of the Commonwealth’s documents
concerning the observation of Presidential and Parliamentary elections and
referenda in CIS member states and with consideration for the obligations of
our states established by the UN and OSCE documents. During the observation
we have been guided solely by the principles of political neutrality,
expressing neither any preferences to the candidates and political parties
nor to the assessments of the Republican referendum in the Republic of
Belarus.
In the process of monitoring the CIS international observers have been
actively exchanging views with the observers representing other
international organizations as well as with local observers. This
contributed to the creation of a full and objective opinion about the
preparation and conduction of the election campaign and the Referendum.
We note that there were 689 foreign observers accredited in the Republic of
Belarus from 53 states and international organizations. Broad authorities
granted to them as well as to the local observers, necessary conditions for
unconstrained observations of the entire election campaign, expansion of the
international observers’ mandate to the monitoring of the Referendum – all
this, in the opinion of the CIS observers, confirms the will of Belarus to
provide for transparency of the process of self-determination of the
Belarusians.
Electoral law and organization of the campaign
The elections to the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of
the Republic of Belarus and the Referendum complied with the Belarusian
Constitution and Electoral Code. 110 CEC’s and 6,659 PEC’s were established
in a timely manner.
CIS international observers state the improvement in a number of legal norms
of the electoral law in terms of its democratization since the presidential
elections of 2001.
Those include enhanced openness of the CEC and other election commissions.
The commissions encompassed representatives of political parties and public
associations registered in Belarus. In accordance with the improved law
major political parties were granted representation in the CEC. They were
also broadly represented among national observers whose number exceeded
24,000 persons.
Among the registered candidates to the House of Representatives of the
National Assembly of Belarus more than a half were represented political
parties and public associations.
CIS international observers believe that the Belarusian law on election to
the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus and holding
of the republican referendum is a balanced framework for transparent, free
elections and republican referenda.
All stages of this election campaign and Referendum were implemented in
compliance with its norms and time limits. The analysis and preliminary
assessments were presented by the CIS observation mission in three
preliminary reports.
CIS international observers underline that the elections to the House of
Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus were
conducted in a competitive manner. There were 330 candidates running for 110
seats.
Voting and Counting of Votes
During early voting the CIS observers visited 159 polling stations, examined
the workflow of local election commissions, including visiting polling
stations at secured premises to which unimpeded access was provided. We note
a sufficiently high activity of voters during the early voting which lasted
five days.
On the day of elections and Referendum 248 observers from 11 CIS member
states, including representatives of Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the
CIS, central electoral commissions of the CIS, Inter-Parliamentary Assembly
of EurAsEC, Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia,
Executive Committee of the CIS and CIS Economic Court visited more than
2,000 polling station at all 110 DEC’s. They were present during their
opening, observed the voting process, met with voters, international and
local observers and shared the results of observation with them, were
present during their closing and counting of votes by PEC’s and the
determination of the voting results.
In spite of several technical shortcomings, noted during the election
observation which, in our opinion, did not make any sufficient impact on
voters’ free self-determination, the voting process as a whole was
democratic and proceeded in accordance with the electoral law.
Preliminary conclusions
CIS observers deem it necessary to note that the Republican Referendum was
conducted against the background of unprecedented campaign of pressure from
outside Belarus. Unfairly harsh statements, biased comments, negative
assessments were made by some officials and structures of a number of
European organizations and the United States with regard to the announced
Referendum. We cannot but consider these statements as an attempt to
predetermine negative attitude of a wide public towards Referendum in the
Republic of Belarus before its actual conduct. We believe that such actions
against sovereign state and its citizens are fundamentally incorrect and do
not correspond with the norms of the international law. We proceed from the
assumption that holding of national referendum is an inherent right of any
state.
CIS observers draw their assessments and preliminary conclusions exclusively
on the basis of their observations, analysis of factual materials and data,
which they collected in the process of the long- and short-term observation.
CIS observers agreed that the Elections to the House of Representatives of
the Belarusian Parliament and the Republican Referendum held on 17 October
enjoyed high interest and activity with the citizens of the Republic of
Belarus. They were conducted in accordance with the norms of existing
electoral law and were found free, fair, legitimate and transparent.
We urge all other international observers who share the conclusions and
assessments of our Statement to join it.
The detailed report of the CIS Observers Mission will be presented by the
Head of the Mission to the Heads of the CIS States according to the rules of
procedure, adopted in the Commonwealth of Independent States.
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