On Monday 26 February, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, said that the conditions for free and fair elections had not been met during the elections in Belarus on Sunday 25 February, and that “the new parliamentary and local officials lack democratic legitimacy”.
According to the Central Electoral Commission, 73% of the 6.9 million voters took part in the election of 110 deputies and 12,514 local officials.
“The continuously increasing and unprecedented level of repression, human rights violations, restrictions to political participation and access to independent media by the Lukashenko regime have severely undermined the legitimacy of the electoral process”, he stressed in a statement.
The High Representative underlined the EU’s regret at the failure of the Belarusian authorities to invite an election observation mission from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe/Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), contrary to Belarus’ international commitments. “This further illustrates the lack of transparency of the electoral process and the failure to ensure its adherence to international electoral standards”, he said.
Mr Borrell reiterated the EU’s support for the democratic right of the Belarusian people to elect their representatives through genuine, democratic and transparent elections. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)