“Elections in Belarus are held in a political crisis, large -scale repression and, according to international organizations, are free and undemocratic”, – WRITE: www.radiosvoboda.org
“Today’s fictitious elections in Belarus were neither free nor honest. The people of Belarus deserve the real right of vote to who governing their country. Ruthless and unprecedented repression on human rights, restricting participation in political life and access to independent media in Belarus have deprived the electoral process of any legitimacy, ”the EU Foreign Ministry Supreme Representative said in a joint statement by Kai Callas Foreign Affairs.
They called on the Belarusian government to release political prisoners, estimating their number of more than a thousand, including an EU representation employee in the capital of Belarus Minsk.
Callas and Kos emphasized that the decision of the authorities of Belarus to invite observers from the organization on safety and cooperation in Europe only 10 days before the election prevented the group from watching the entire election process.
“This is another proof of complete lack of confidence in this election,” the statement said.
“For these reasons, as well as through the participation of the Belarusian regime in the aggressive war of Russia against Ukraine and its hybrid attacks on its neighbors, the EU will continue to introduce restrictive measures against the regime, while financially supporting civil society, Belarusian democratic forces in emigration and Belarusian culture.” noted in the EU.
Callas and Kos did not specify what new sanctions would be concerned and did not specify the time limits for their introduction.
In Belarus, January 26 is the main election day of the President. Before that, on January 21, early voting took place. According to the Belarusian Radio Liberty Service, a total of 5325 polling stations for voting were formed. They were opened at 8:00 local time and will be burned at 8:00 pm (19:00 Kyiv time).
Oleksandr Lukashenko, who has been in power in Belarus since 1994 and has been a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, declared his intention to run again in the presidential election late last year.
A number of Western countries and institutions have already made statements that they do not intend to recognize their results. On January 23, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine emphasized that the results of voting in Belarus were known in advance. The Ministry spokesman George Tykhy said that the vote “would like to call the presidential election if they were grounds.”
At a meeting on January 22, the European Parliament approved a resolution on repression and illegitimate elections in Belarus.
Elections in Belarus are held in a political crisis, large -scale repression and, according to international organizations, are free and undemocratic.
There are no officially registered opposition parties or independent NGOs in Belarus. Since 2001, the international community and independent observers have not recognized the election results in Belarus.