BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

21/12/2010

European Union does not recognize Lukashenka as president

Head of OSCE's Bureau for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Gert Arens said at his press conference in Minsk that the mission of EU observers does not recognize the validity of presidential election in Belarus.

According to OSCE, the current president Alyaksandr Lukashenka used administrative levers to help him. OSCE expectations of a democratic election in Belarus have failed. In all, 329 EU observers monitored the election in Belarus.

There was no level playing field for presidential candidates. As national TV channels gave 90 percent of their time to Lukashenko, and this made it impossible for voters to make their choices the Monday OSCE press release runs.

The international community expects the government of Belarus to explain the arrests of presidential candidates, journalists and human rights activists in Belarus, Arens added.

The OSCE monitors were appalled by how the counting of votes was done after the election.

Meanwhile, the monitors from CIS said the election was open and democratic.

On the voting day, the authorities disabled the Internet to prevent coordination of the opposition forces. On Minsk central square, the light was cut off to stop the opposition from staging protests there. Hundreds of opposition members were arrested, beaten up, including journalists and presidential candidates.

Meanwhile, Belarus Interior Minister Kuleshov warned that the arrested f ace prison terms ranging from 5 to 15 years.

Source:

http://zik.com.ua/en/news/2010/12/21/262815




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