English

Washington «disappointed» over Belarus' elections

The United States is "disappointed" that Belarus' parliamentary elections "fell significantly short of international standards," Sean McCormack, spokesman for the US Department of State, said in a statement, BelaPAN said.

The United States is also disappointed that the Belarusian government "failed to uphold pledges for a transparent vote count," he said.

Mr. McCormack cited the preliminary report of the OSCE's election observation mission that the conduct of the parliamentary elections in Belarus did not meet OSCE standards despite minor improvements.

"The vote count in particular was judged negatively at nearly one-half of the precincts where OSCE observers were present," he said. "Problems included election monitors being denied access to the vote count process, discrepancies between the number of voters observed and the number of votes recorded and outright falsification of votes."

At the same time, Mr. McCormack said that the United States intended to maintain its dialogue with the Belarusian authorities and the people of Belarus.

"We encourage the authorities to take steps to uphold Belarus' international commitments to promote democratic freedoms, including holding genuinely competitive elections, and to improving respect for internationally recognized human rights," the spokesman said. "Such steps are necessary in order for relations between the United States and Belarus to improve significantly."