Parlamentsvalg i Hviterussland ikke fritt og rettferdig

- Det er svært beklagelig at parlamentsvalget i Hviterussland 23. september ikke levde opp til internasjonale demokratiske standarder, sier utenriksminister Espen Barth Eide.

Konklusjonene fra det internasjonale observatørkorpset viser at søndagens parlamentsvalg i Hviterussland ikke har oppfylt internasjonale standarder for frie og demokratiske valg. Mens deler av opposisjonen trakk seg fra valget i protest mot forholdene i landet, ble mange andre nektet å stille til valg.

- Fraværet av valgkamp i landet har vært påfallende og valgresultatet ser ut til i stor grad å ha vært avgjort før valgdagen. Parlamentets manglende politiske innflytelse gjør at det dessverre ser ut til å ha vært lav interesse for valget i befolkningen, sier Eide.

Norge gir betydelig støtte til demokratiutvikling i Hviterussland. Norge har derfor bidratt med seks valgobservatører  (to langtids- og fire korttidsobservatører), samt en representant fra parlamentarikerforsamlingen til Organisasjonen for Sikkerhet og Samarbeid i Europa (OSSE).

- Det er positivt at OSSE ble invitert til å observere valget og at de har fått utføre jobben sin i ukene før valget. Alt tyder imidlertid på at man ikke vil finne en eneste opposisjonspolitiker i det nye parlamentet. Dette er svært beklagelig,  sier utenriksminister Eide.

Observatørene peker på manglende åpenhet og innsyn i registreringsprosedyrene. De rapporterer at mange kandidater ble avvist etter mindre unøyaktigheter. Én av de mange som ble rammet var opposisjonspolitikeren Aliaksandr Milinkevich. Videre skal seks studenter og ansatte fra det hviterussiske eksiluniversitetet European Humaniaties University ha blitt anholdt av hviterussisk politi i dag. I følge EHUs hadde de deltatt i valgobservasjon og diskuterte sine observasjoner da de ble anholdt.

- Vi ønsker Hviterussland velkommen som en likeverdig partner i Europa, men da må landet leve opp til sine internasjonale forpliktelser for menneskerettigheter og demokrati. Dagens Hviterussland ligger langt unna å oppfylle dette, noe som bekymrer meg sterkt. Vi stiller krav om at alle politiske fanger i landet umiddelbart løslates og rehabiliteres. Vi fortsetter vår støtte til sivilt samfunn og demokratiske krefter i landet, sier Eide.

Kilde: http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/ud/pressesenter/pressemeldinger/2012/valg_hviterussland.html?id=699782

Rymasheuski named “new lobbyists” of Lukashenka in Europe

The co-chairman of the BChD party published an article on the Belarusian News web-site.
The boycott of the 2012 elections became an obvious accomplished matter. However, right now it is high time for the main important moment for the Belarusian authorities. In Belarus and outside the struggle continues for the recognition of the election results, Vitali Rymasheuski writes on the Belarusian News web-site.

As a matter of fact the very theatrical play called “elections-2012” was performed. The regime needs to persuade the people that the elections were successful. That is why the official propaganda is screaming about the successfulness of the electoral campaign. Here it is necessary to point out that the given task in the Belarusian political context more and more goes to the sidelines as in the recent years the regime more leans against the numerous special services and, respectively, the support of the majority of the population becomes less important.

But the conclusions made by the international community about the electoral campaign are exceptionally important for the authorities in the conditions of the economic crisis. The regime urgently needs for them to be recognized as legitimate or at least for the progress in the elections conduct to be admitted in order to have an opportunity to communicate with governments and financial insitutions of democratic countries.

Certainly, it is one of the major tasks of the MFA and diplomats for the nearest future. However, like in the case of mobilizing people for the elections, the regime structures are already unable to perform the task themselves – the people of Belarus as well as the international community have too much distrust to the authorities.

The Belarusian offices, crated in the countries of Europe for “support of democracy development” in Belarus, come to the rescue of the MFA.

Let’s give the example of the Information bureau Solidarity with Belarus (Warsaw) headed by Yulia Slutskaya (in 2009-2010 – one of the leaders of the Tell the Truth campaign, from 2011 – the head of the Solidarity with Belarus in Warsaw) to illustrate the claim.

On 24 September 2012 thousands of bureau’s addressees around Belarus and Europe received a monitoring of the electoral campaign with a catchy and laconic title “Elections results: the elections were successful, the boycott was not”. In the monitoring it was noted that “the main political outcome of the elections were the identification of the stability and efficiency of the authorities vertical. The Belarusian authorities demonstrated that they could effectively manage the flow of the campaign and achieve the necessary turnout threshold”. The Central Electoral Commission’s numbers are provided in the support of the information about the elections results and the turnout.

It practically was a word-to-word repeated statement of the Belarusian television.
The office Solidarity with Belarus doesn’t stop there and claims that the opposition recognized the elections as well!

On 1 October the office disseminates the information that 7 opposition actors, which include UCP, Young Front, and Belarusian Christian Democracy, agreed to the official elections results.
The conclusion is make on the basis of the common statement of seven political organizations, which in particular noted that the parliamentary elections in Belarus were not successful. More than half of the Belarus’ voters didn’t take part in the voting. (…) We don’t have elected parliament members, we don’t have a parliament. What happened in Belarus can’t be considered elections; these were pseudo elections to a fake parliament.

It is necessary to admit that compared to such a “independent analytics” the official propaganda of the Belarusian authorities is just a miserable babbling, - Rymasheuski concludes.