English

OSCE/ODIHR observation mission is balanced and impartial, says mission head

The observation mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) that has arrived in Belarus to monitor parliamentary elections is balanced and impartial, Antonio Milososki, head of the mission, told reporters in Minsk on Wednesday when asked by BelaPAN to comment on remarks made by Lidziya Yarmoshyna, head of the central election commission, in an interview with the newspaper Sovetskaya Belorussiya.

The democracy cultivated by the ODIHR is a “terrible thing that is impossible to resist,” Ms. Yarmoshyna said in that interview. “All their democracy is well-organized bureaucracy with some game being played with the public and the media. It will destroy anyone it meets on its way with the help of its cohesion.”

According to her, the standards applied by the ODIHR to Western countries and post-Soviet countries are radically different. "A mission of 15 people goes to Germany, where 80 million people live, and there are 700 observers for Belarus where nine million live. You understand that the objectives of these observation missions are different," she said.

The numerical strengths of observation missions depend on several factors, Mr. Milososki said. In particular, according to him, the need for assessment work and subsequent recommendations, and OSCE participating countries’ intention and ability to send observers to one country or another are taken into consideration.

The numbers of observers from Eastern Europe and Western Europe among the members of the mission are approximately equal, Mr. Milososki stressed.

He said he believed that the mission would have an unbiased and balanced attitude to the elections. People on the mission have good experience of observing elections, he noted.

When asked what he expected from his stay in Belarus, Mr. Milososki said that he would like to see the medieval Mir Castle and democratic elections in the country.

He said that the OSCE observers would monitor the entire election process, including the candidate registration stage, media coverage, the early voting period, the vote-counting process and the settlement of possible disputes.