Brussels, 11/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - The International Limited Election Observation Mission for the 9 September presidential elections in Belarus has reached the preliminary conclusions that the elections did not meet the international standards formulated by the OSCE and the Council of Europe as outlined in the 1990 Copenhagen Document. The international observers were led by Jan Wiersma of the European Parliament, Stef Goris of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, Kimmo Kiljunen of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and Hrair Balian for the OSCE's Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Bureau.
Like the other Assemblies, the European Parliament delegation welcomed and acknowledges "the emergence of a pluralist civil society" in Belarus, and says that "isolation is not in the best interests of the Belarus people and is not conducive to strengthening democratic development". In a press release, the MEPs said that "in the light of the existing democratic deficit, as well of the positive trends indicating a more pluralistic political environment in Belarus, the international community should reassess its policy towards this country. This does not mean that the European Parliament recommends at present to modify the European Union's attitude towards the Belarus regime". The European Parliament announced that one of the members of its delegation, Pedro Marset Campos (United Left, Spain), would be drawing up a report outlining strategies for the development of a fully functioning civil society in Belarus.
The Council of Europe reached the same conclusions, but denounced the campaign of intimidation directed against opposition activists and highly biased state-controlled media. In a press release, the Council of Europe noted that the democratic forces of the opposition were able to overcome their differences and jointly contest the election and that with three candidates on offer, voters in Belarus were offered "a genuine political choice".