CEC rejects ENEMO bid to observe vote in Belarus
Representatives of a well-known international election observation organization ENEMO (European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations) asked the Central Election Commission, the Presidential Administration and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to allow them to monitor this year’s presidential election in Belarus.
So far, ENEMO has only received a reply from the CEC.
“In accordance with the Electoral Code of the Republic of Belarus, foreign (international) observers can be invited by the President, both houses of Parliament, the Government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Central Election Commission.
International organizations are invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Central Election Commission invites, on a reciprocal basis, their counterparts - organizers of elections from foreign countries,” says the reply.
However, when speaking at the conference, which was devoted to international standards and commitments of OSCE participating states in the context of the elections on July 20 in Vienna, the CEC head Lidziya Yarmoshyna argued that despite the criticism of the OSCE ODIHR and observations conducted by the organization, Belarus had always been open to monitoring by international organizations and this year’s elections will be no exception.
In addition, the current president Aliaksandr Lukashenka said at a meeting on domestic issues on June 23 that no one would be prohibited to observe the elections, "neither domestic observers nor foreign ones. Let them look and make conclusions,” the President said.
