PA OSCE Accuses Belarusian Authorities In Violation Of Duties In Organization Framework

Official Minsk has been criticized for its methods of carrying out the electoral campaign.

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) announced yesterday that the lack of an invitation has prevented ODIHR from observing the election process. In the evening of July 15, the Belarusian MFA announced having sent the invitations to the international observers. Kyriakos Hadjiyianni (Cyprus), Michael Link (Germany), and Kari Henriksen (Norway), the Chair, Vice-Chair and Rapporteur, respectively, of the OSCE PA’s human rights committee stressed that the failure to extend a timely invitation is not in line with OSCE commitments.

“All OSCE participating States are obliged under the 1990 OSCE Copenhagen Document to facilitate election observation by other participating States,” Hadjiyianni, Link and Henriksen said today in a joint statement. “The fact that Belarus failed until now to invite the OSCE to observe its 9 August presidential election has effectively prevented observation of key parts of the electoral process, such as the formation of election commissions and registration of candidates. Although the Parliamentary Assembly was not planning to deploy observers due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we deeply regret that the lack of an invitation to our partners in ODIHR has prevented them from performing any election observation activities. The people and institutions of Belarus would have benefited from the added transparency brought by OSCE election observation.”

Hadjiyianni, Link and Henriksen also expressed concern over reports that prospective presidential candidates had been intimidated in Belarus and opposition activists arrested.