OSCE Chairman-in-Office urges Belarus to ensure fair conditions for the presidential election

BUCHAREST, 3 September 2001 (OSCE) - On September 9, 2001 presidential elections will be held in Belarus. "The public in all countries participating in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe are following the events leading up to the elections with great interest," said OSCE's Chairman-in-Office, Mircea Geoana, during a press conference held in Bucharest.

The Chairman-in-Office, who is also Romania's Foreign Minister, said he hopes that the elections would be conducted with full respect for the laws of the country and for the principles guiding the OSCE in observing elections in all regions of the OSCE area:

• Non-interference by the Government in the work of the Electoral Commission;
• Full transparency of the work of the Electoral Commission on all levels;
• Unimpeded access of international and domestic observers to the election process, in particular to the vote-counting process;
• Non-interference in the work of the non-governmental organizations engaged in domestic observation.

The Chairman-in-Office also welcomed the decision of the European Parliamentary Institutions to send parliamentarians of the three Institutions (the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament) as short-term observers and to closely co-operate with the ODIHR Limited Election Observation Mission in Belarus.

He urged the Belarusian authorities and the Electoral Commission to include observers of all candidates in the Electoral Commission with a consultative status. This is in order to ensure the close monitoring of the election process and of the crucial vote-counting stages by the representatives of all candidates and the independent observation teams. This may enhance international and national confidence in the proper conduct of the elections.

The Chairman-in-Office regretted that circumstances had not allowed him until now to schedule a visit to Belarus and to meet with President Lukashenko and with the representatives of civil society, but he looks forward to a new phase in the development of Belarus - towards democracy, the rule of law and the striving for a civil society.

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For further information contact Josue Anselmo, OSCE Spokesperson, mobile 0664 325 3698, or the Press and Public Information Section of the OSCE Secretariat, tel.: +43-1-514-36-180; fax: +43-1-514-36-105; e-mail: info@osce.org.