Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus

The election to the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus and the Republican Referendum that took place in the Republic of Belarus demonstrated a convincing support by the Belarusian people for the course for strengthening sovereignty and independence of Belarus as well as for further fostering of its democratic institutions.

Inviting a big number of international observers became a clear indication of transparency of the election process in the Republic of Belarus. The monitoring of the elections and the Referendum in Belarus was carried out by the mission of the CIS member states, representatives of other international organizations and independent observers. Despite the official invitation from Belarus the OSCE ODIHR mission chose to observe only the election due to lack of resources.

All necessary legal and organizational conditions were created in the Republic of Belarus for conduction of the elections and the Referendum. Interaction with the international observers was carried out in a spirit of full openness and cooperation which was noted in CIS and OSCE ODIHR missions’ reports.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs notes with satisfaction the objectiveness and balanced character of conclusions as well as of positive evaluation of the election and Referendum results contained in statements by CIS and independent observers.

It is against this background that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has to state with regret that in spite of a number of constructive conclusions and recommendations, the ODIHR/OSCE PA conclusions did not in a due manner reflect consecutive measures taken by Belarus as for improvement of the election process and contain an evident lack of objectivity.

It is not surprising: under conditions of a bald pressure upon the international observation on the part of the US and EC the leadership of the ODIHR/OSCE PA failed to overcome a preset negative attitude toward the results of the election and the Referendum.

The results of the international observation fully confirm the correctness and timeliness of the conclusions contained in the Statement on the state of affairs in the OSCE adopted at the CIS member states summit in Moscow on 3 July 2004 in which the leaders of the CIS member states called for fundamental review of the methods and forms of OSCE ODIHR activities, including those pertaining elections.

The Republic of Belarus having been consecutively supporting for several passed years the reform of the OSCE will continue together with the CIS countries as well as with other states an active work to this end.