MFA of Slovakia: «Elections» were not free and fair

Slovak Foreign Ministry criticized Lukashenka's "election.

"Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic closely followed whole electoral process in Belarus (starting with electoral campaign and finishing with the ballot counting). Ministry, based on the preliminary findings of the OSCE election observation mission (with participants from the Slovak Republic), states that the parliamentary elections in Belarus were neither free nor fair. The elections did not meet international and OSCE standards despite the fact that there were some improvements compared to the previous elections.

Belarusian authorities allowed public performances of several opposition candidates, political parties and invited OSCE to observe the elections. However there were a lot of shortcomings observed during the course of the electoral process, mainly regarding the implementation of international commitments of Belarus. Vote count was not transparent, not all the candidates enjoyed the same rights when it comes to campaigning in public. Many opposition politicians and activists remained in custody, after having previously been sentenced based on political motives.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic appeals to the Belarusian leadership for democratizing country´s political system, improving the situation in the sphere of human rights and political freedoms and revising legislation on elections. Slovak Republic stands ready to help in these processes, also by using the existing EU programs and projects.