US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that the presidential elections in Belarus on January 26 cannot be free and fair given the “repressive environment” that has been created in the Eastern European country, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
“The United States joins many of our European allies in assessing that elections cannot be considered credible in an environment where censorship is pervasive, independent media no longer exist, only government-approved candidates can be nominated, and members of the opposition are either in prison or exile“, Blinken said in a statement.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will not send election observers to Belarus, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
A belated invitation from Belarus, issued just 10 days before the election date, hinders access to important stages of the election process and makes full monitoring impossible, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the organization.
President Alexander Lukashenko has ruled Belarus since 1994 and is seeking re-election.
Five candidates are officially running in the election. Lukashenko declared himself the winner of the 2020 election, although independent observers said his rival Svetlana Tikhanovskaya had a lead.
He responded to the ensuing mass protests with bloody repression. The country, which has close ties to Russia, still holds more than 1,000 political prisoners, DPA noted.
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry said 450 international observers, including from the OSCE, had been invited to the election. However, this invitation clearly came too late.
“Belarus announced the date of the presidential elections months ago and the authorities are aware that the ODIHR needs a timely invitation to observe all important aspects of the elections,“ the office's spokeswoman Katya Andrush told DPA.