Lawmaker suggests setting up international group to safeguard elections

May 26, BPN. The chairwoman of Belarus’ upper house of parliament has suggested creating and international organization to “protect election processes,” said the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Russian-led Eurasian military bloc.

Natalla Kačanava told a conference in Minsk yesterday that Western observers’ bias “makes us think about new forms of protecting elections.”

The organization should be like an anti-fascist committee, Kačanava said.

She urged the CSTO and Commonwealth of Independent States to reinforce their election monitoring missions that, she claimed, report the results in line with proper standards without political bias.

On the same day, Ihar Karpienka, Belarus’ top election official, said that the country needs a “legal, informational, financial, organizational and technical barrier” to stop external meddling in its elections.

Belarus has faced international criticism for its crackdown on the opposition and civil society after a disputed presidential election that triggered mass protests in 2020. The country has not held a single free and fair election since 1996 by the standards of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.