OSCE REFUSES TO ACCEPT ELECTIONS IN BELARUS, YUGOSLAV VARIANT FAILS TO MATERIALIZE

Sunday’s elections in Belarus did not comply with democratic principles and cannot be considered valid, the mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said today. The statement issued by the mission contends that the minimum requirements for holding “fair, equal, transparent, and open elections” were not honoured, Reuters reports. OSCE’s stance here is no surprise. In the run-up of the elections this international body did not want to send its observers to the parliamentary elections in Belarus pointing to the complaints of the persecution of the opposition’s most renowned representatives. But finally, OSCE observers did go to Belarus. So, they were supposed to reaffirm the correctness of OSCE’s general line aimed at discrediting the “Lukashenko regime.”