Belarus shows Europe and USA lesson of fair and free elections

The Belarusians have elected deputies of the lower house of parliament. The opposition has shown its weakness and boycotted the elections. OSCE observers predictably stated that the elections were not free. Warsaw called the Belarusian elections "make-up on the face of dictatorship," while Berlin said that it was a tragedy. The Belarusians do not care much about those attacks: they held the elections for themselves but not for the West.

On Sunday, Belarus held parliamentary elections for the lower house of parliament. There were 293 candidates for 110 seats. The Central Election Commission of Belarus declared the elections valid - 109 deputies were elected. None of the opposition deputies won. However, it is only the opposition that is to blame for its own debacle.

For the first time, Belarusian opposition was allowed to campaign on television, Lukashenko's rating declined, the demand for an alternative political force matured. Obviously, opposition forces could win up to a dozen of seats in the parliament. But six major parties, including the largest ones - the United Civic Party and the Belarusian Popular Front - boycotted the elections and urged citizens to do the same. It was decided to rely on the falsified turnout. If it had been below 50 percent, the elections would have been declared invalid. Therefore, Western agencies were saying on Sunday that the turnout was extremely low. In District Number 101 of Minsk, opposition registered the turnout of 35 percent. However, the CEC stated in the morning that the turnout was 74 percent (39 percent according to the opposition). Such a considerable difference in numbers suggests that someone has lied.

By Monday noon, the OSCE published its report, which did not say a word about falsification. The OSCE observers spoke of suspicions and about the "bad" vote count. It became clear that the plan under the slogan "From boycotting elections to boycotting regime" has failed. The attempts to accuse the Belarusian authorities of arranging the "carousel" ended with nothing too. They proved untenable because Belarus votes by majority (for certain candidates), not by proportion (on the lists). Therefore, taking fake voters to distant districts does not make sense.

The OSCE observers recognized the Belarusian elections "not free" and "non-transparent." "The legal framework did not provide free elections," the head of the mission, Matteo Mekachchi, mysteriously stated. For some reason, the official concluded that the opposition's voluntary withdrawal from the debate was an act of persecution against opposition. Poland and Germany were also among the critics of the Belarusian elections. Presidential advisor Tomasz Nalench said that the election in Belarus was "make-up on the face of the dictatorship." A spokesman for the German government, Steffen Seibert, called the election a tragedy.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that the country held the parliamentary elections for Belarus, rather than for the West. "Tell your Polish observers, let them learn from us how to hold elections. We do not need Polish politicians to show us how we should build our lives," he said.

Regarding the statements saying that the parliamentary elections in the country are boring to observe, Lukashenko said: "Let them envy! The elections in the states where they are held as a boring and quiet event mean happiness for the people, not to mention the authorities." According to him, "the elections in a civilized state that is a home to a civilized society are supposed to take place this way. We do not need revolutions, riots, clashes, explosions and fist fights," Lukashenko said.

Earlier, after a meeting with Vladimir Putin, Lukashenko said that Belarus was "tired" of defending Europe against those shocks. "We (with Putin) discussed the situation on our borders. It is not simple now. The migration to Europe is terrible. I had reports from law enforcement agencies saying that they were tired of catching people with explosives. We can not protect them (the Europeans - ed.) at our own cost from all this "junk" that moves across our borders, but we try to do something," Lukashenko said.

According to one of the opposition leaders, Vladimir Neklayev (Speak the Truth party), the main reason, for which the opposition lost the elections, was about the wrong tactics and the lack of unity. The official believes that the opposition must participate in the elections. He put forward a new plan of action for the presidential elections in 2015. Namely, Neklayev offers to hold the Belarusian Congress with the participation of emigration and diaspora, and form the  "transitional government," the Belarusian News newspaper wrote.

That is a strange idea indeed. Funded by the West, the government of "prisoners of conscience" organizes the perestroika in Gorbachev and Yeltsin style. This can only bankrupt the country. The voters understand this very well.

The Belarusian opposition continues to spin on the political "carousel" instead of developing specific measures for economic modernization, democratization and transformation of the political system. The opposition has no connection with the people. The majority of opposition activists are focused on nationalist postulates: the protection of the Belarusian language, making steps away from Russia, and the return of Lithuanian symbols - the Coat of Arms and the white-red flag.

Since 1996, the United States, EU and OSCE have never recognized the results of any election held in Belarus. In this connection, the Chairwoman and Secretary of the Central Election Commission of Belarus, Lydia Yermoshina and Nikolai Lozovik, were subjected to visa sanctions. Their entry to the United States and   the EU was banned. Alexander Lukashenko is sanctioned too: the Belarusian president was not allowed to attend the Olympic Games in London.

Lyuba Lulko

Pravda.Ru

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