OREANDA-NEWS. The mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) considers the recent parliamentary elections in Belarus to be inconsistent with democratic standards.

This was announced on November 18 by the Special Co-ordinator of the observation mission Margareta Cederfelt. “The 17 November early parliamentary elections proceeded calmly but did not meet important international standards for democratic elections,” she said.

According to the OSCE representative, the observers noted “an overall disregard for fundamental freedoms of assembly, association and expression" and “overly restrictive registration process” (quoted by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s page on Facebook). Cederfelt believes that it did not allow a number of opposition politicians to participate in the elections.

As Cederfelt resumed, the legal framework does not guarantee the compliance of the elections with democratic commitments of Belarus and implementation of the OSCE recommendations.

At the same time, Lord Blencathra, the head of the delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, said that “the choice of political and electoral systems is the sovereign decision of Belarus”. “However, Belarus is a member of our European family, and we expect all members of our family to adhere to electoral international standards. We are disappointed that Belarus has not implemented the recommendations we made in 2016, thus depriving their citizens, both voters and candidates, of full involvement in the democratic process,” he added.