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OSCE chairman-in-office meets with opposition, pro-government politicians in Minsk

Kanat Saudabayev, the new chairperson-in-office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), met with representatives of parties and NGOs in Minsk on Tuesday to discuss the situation in Belarus.

The Kazakh foreign minister arrived in Belarus on Monday evening.

The meeting was attended by representatives of both opposition and pro-government parties, prominent Social Democratic politician Mikalay Statkevich told BelaPAN.

Taking part in the meeting were, among others, the leaders of the Belarusian Popular Front, the Communist Party of Belarus, the United Civic Party and the Belarusian Party of the Left.

"The theme of the meeting had not been determined but it all boiled down to what matters most - Belarus` elections. Representatives of pro-government organizations said that elections are fair and democratic, while opposition politicians pointed to multiple irregularities and vote rigging during elections," Mr. Statkevich said.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Statkevich said that Belarus "is moving forward but not in the direction where most other OSCE countries are." "I said that some of the people present at the meeting had served sentences on criminal charges for their political activity. Apart from this, I spoke about violations committed in the formation of election commissions, the registration of candidates in the coming elections for local soviets," he noted.

According to Mr. Statkevich, the OSCE chairman-in-office spoke about "good" relations between the leaders of Belarus and Kazakhstan. "At the end of the meeting he also said that `there`s a fairly good situation in Belarus` if such a hot debate between representatives of various opposition and pro-government organizations takes place freely," the politician said. 

Uladzimir Andreychanka, speaker of Belarus’ House of Representatives, told the new OSCE chairperson-in-office that Belarus is ready to support Kazakhstan’s initiatives during its chairmanship. Belarus is a “very active and responsible OSCE participant” and suggests that the Organization’s decisions have a “practical and specific content,” Mr. Andreychanka noted.

Mr. Saudabayev expressed gratitude to Belarus for its consistent support of Kazakhstan’s OSCE activities. He said that a priority of Kazakhstan’s chairmanship is to hold an OSCE summit in 2010. “The most recent summit took place in 1999,” he said. “The situation in the world has changed since then, and not for the better. New threats have emerged, which need to be addressed.”