Following the early parliamentary elections in Belarus on 17 November 2019, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has published its final report.
It offers 32 recommendations to improve the conduct of elections and increase the transparency of and public confidence in the electoral process.
Key recommendations include:
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Comprehensively review the electoral legal framework to address prior ODIHR recommendations, including on the composition of election commissions, candidacy rights, observers’ rights, and safeguards for voting, counting and tabulation procedures.
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Align legislation regulating freedoms of association, assembly and expression with international standards.
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Ensure the right of individuals and groups to establish political parties or organizations without undue restrictions, and with the power to compete with each other on an equal basis.
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Introduce clear criteria and mechanisms for candidate registration, to enhance inclusiveness and transparency and avoid disqualification resulting from minor inaccuracies in documentation.
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Remove fees for holding public events, including those held by any electoral stakeholders before, during and after elections.
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Introduce sufficient safeguards to ensure the integrity of early voting and election day procedures and materials.
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Implement clear and transparent procedures for counting ballots so that all present can verify that results are counted genuinely and reported honestly.
OSCE observers have repeatedly noted that the legal framework in Belarus does not provide a supportive environment for democratic elections. In turn, Lidziya Yarmoshyna, Chairperson of the Central Election Commission (CEC) says that the commission does not have enough time to make amendments to the electoral law in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election.
Despite the hopes of many opposition candidates, there were no alternative deputies let in the House of Representatives in the wake of the latest parliamentary election held in November, 2019. More than 600 violations were reported by the local election observers; OSCE ODIHR harshly criticised the falsifications duting the election. International presence and meeting with EU delegates had a weak effect on its result.
Since 1996, the OSCE has not recognized a single election campaign in our country as free and democratic.
