Belarus’ top election official says OSCE observers to be accredited if invited

November 21, Pozirk. The central election commission will accredit observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), if they are invited, Ihar Karpienka, the top election official, said in an interview broadcast on STV on November 20.

He said, however, that his commission is not in charge of issuing such invitations, unlike invitations to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) election authorities, he noted.

Karpienka made it clear that he would disregard OSCE recommendations anyway, even if observers are invited.

“We hold elections for ourselves, for our country,” he stressed. “This is our internal affair and we are certainly not obliged to report to any European structure about our legislation or electoral procedures.”

In mid-September, Karpienka claimed the OSCE mechanisms destabilized countries during elections. Belarus would invite representatives of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS, an economic bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, which are also able to assess electoral campaigns, he added.

He also said that the OSCE lacks uniform election assessment standards.

The Belarusian government is to hold elections for the National Assembly’s lower house and local councils on February 25, 2024.

An election for the upper house are scheduled for April 4, 2024.

According to OSCE reports, not a single election held in Belarus since 1996 was up to the organization’s standards for democratic, free and fair elections.