BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

01/10/2008

EU concerned at Belarus vote after opposition wiped out

BRUSSELS (AFP) - The EU voiced concern on Tuesday that elections in Belarus were undemocratic, but Poland and Lithuania are set to plead nonetheless for an opening up to the former Soviet republic.

The OSCE had judged Sunday's legislative elections in Belarus, in which no opposition candidate was elected, to be undemocratic.

The findings of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) election watchdog "concern" the EU presidency which called on the Belarussian authorities "to pursue efforts in order to conform with international democratic standards."

However the EU presidency statement also spoke of "positive developments which preceded the vote, in particular the freeing of the remaining political prisoners and the invitation to the OSCE to observe the legislative elections".

The European Union has been seeking a way to hold out a hand to what it sees as a key state at the outer reaches of Western and Russian influence, especially in the wake of the Georgia conflict.

EU foreign ministers, meeting in France earlier this month, mooted lifting their sanctions against Belarus following the prisoner release.

"Given that we said we were asking Belarus to release political prisoners and demonstrate electoral reform, they have done some but not all of that," one European diplomat said Tuesday.

"So now we need to have an analysis of whether we are going to give them something but not everything," in terms of lifting sanctions."

Of all the 27 EU nations, Poland and Lithuania, neighbours of Belarus and particularly anti-Moscow, have been pushing the hardest to get the sanctions lifted.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has made the comparison with Cuba, noting that the EU has lifted its sanctions there despite the fact that Havana is still holding political prisoners.

The Lithuanian foreign ministry said in a statement that the elections do not change the fact that dialogue with Belarus is "indispensable".

Both countries are likely to call at the next meeting of EU foreign ministers next month for a selective review of the sanctions in place and other measures of encouragement in the form of visa facilitation and scholarships, said another European diplomat.

Forty Belarussian figures, including Lukashenko, have been banned from entering the EU since the 2006 presidential election which was judged not to comply with international norms.

Loyalists of autocratic Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko won every seat in Sunday's parliamentary polls that were also widely condemned by the US government and Western observers.

Full election results indicated all 110 lower house seats in the former Soviet state would go to allies of Lukashenko, dubbed "Europe's last dictator" by the United States.

Lukashenko himself on Tuesday called for the European Union to lift its sanctions and vowed not to seek closer ties with the West at the expense of its old ally Russia.

The president, who has ruled Belarus for 14 years, said that "if we are asked to improve relations with Europe at the expense of Russia, we will not agree to this."

The OSCE has said the Belarus vote "fell short of OSCE commitments in spite of minor improvements."

The organisation, which deployed some 450 poll monitors in the former Soviet state, said they were denied access to more than a third of polling stations for the count and found "several cases of deliberate falsification of results" at other locations.

Source:

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080930/twl-eu-concerned-at-belarus-vote-after-o-f363c67.html

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