Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights - Elections

Following an invitation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, issued on 19 January, the OSCE/ODIHR deployed an Election Observation Mission to observe the presidential election scheduled for 19 March 2006.

On 19 March, voters went to the polls to elect a president for a five-year term. A candidate is elected if he or she receives at least 50 per cent of the votes cast. If no candidate receives an absolute majority, the second round is held within two weeks.

The ODIHR Election Observation Mission and the OSCE Office in Minsk, headed by Ambassador Ake Peterson, operate separately under their specific mandates.

Long-term observation

The ODIHR conducted a Needs Assessment Mission (NAM) from 24 to 27 January 2006 in order to assess the conditions and preparations for the elections and to advise on the level of ODIHR involvement in these elections. The NAM recommended that a standard election observation mission be deployed in early February.

The mission, headed by Ambassador Geert-Hinrich Ahrens of Germany, consisted of 12 international staff based in Minsk and 38 long-term observers deployed in the regions. Experts and long-term observers are drawn from 19 different OSCE participating States. 

The mission assessed the entire electoral process in terms of its compliance with OSCE commitments for democratic elections, other international standards, and national legislation. It focused on the election campaign, the legislative framework and its implementation, the media situation, the work of the election administration and relevant government bodies, and the resolution of election-related disputes.

Election day

The ODIHR requested 400 short-term observers to be deployed immediately prior to the 19 March election. The short-term observers were deployed around the country in multi-national teams of two to monitor the opening of polling stations, the voting, the counting of ballots, and the tabulation of results.

The day after the election, the mission issued a statement of preliminary findings and conclusions.

A final report on the observation of the entire election process will be issued approximately eight weeks after the end of the mission.

Previous elections

The ODIHR has observed a number of elections in Belarus, including the missions of various scale deployed to monitor 2000 parliamentary elections, 2001 presidential election and 2004 parliamentary elections.