Canada disappointed at “parliamentary elections” in Belarus

The Department of Foreign Affairs of Canada expressed deep concern regarding the conduct of Belarus's September 28 “parliamentary elections”.

The statement of the department came in response to a preliminary report on the elections by international observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

“The observers' findings are particularly disappointing in light of signs of democratic progress leading up to the election, including the release of high-profile political prisoners, and minor improvements in the electoral process,” the statement of the Canadian MFA says.

The “parliamentary elections” in Belarus were held on September 28. 264 candidates contested 110 seats in the ”parliament”. About 100 opposition candidates failed to get to the “house of representatives”.

The OSCE/ODIHR election observing mission didn’t recognise the “parliamentary elections” in Belarus free and democratic. OSCE observers noted “bad or very bad” process of vote count in 50 per cent of the cases. 40 per cent of the observers weren’t able to monitor the vote counting in full. The elections ultimately fell short of OSCE standards.