Representatives of Parliamentary Assembly Recognize Presidential Elections in Belarus as Free and Open

From 17th to 20th December, 2010 the representatives of the Union State Parliamentary Assembly were monitoring the process of presidential elections in the Republic of Belarus.

From 17^th to 20^th December, 2010 the representatives of the Union State Parliamentary Assembly were monitoring the process of presidential elections in the Republic of Belarus.

Parliamentary Assembly delegation that consisted of eleven people was accredited as part of the CIS Observation Mission. The work of the delegation was coordinated by Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly Committee on Legislation and Regulations, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Nationalities Affairs, S.M. Shorshorov.

The representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly held a number of meetings with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Belarus A. Surikov; Chairwoman of Central Commitee of Belarus for Elections and Referenda L.M. Ermoshina; Head of CIS Observation Mission, CIS Executive Secretary S.N. Lebedev.

Union parliamentarians worked in Minsk as well as Minsk, Brest and Grodno regions. The representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly delegation visited 157 polling stations and familiarized themselves with the work of 12 district election committees. In the process they followed effective in Belarus electoral legislation, principles of political neutrality and noninterference in the internal affairs of the state. The observation was carried out independently and was based on the principles of transparency and publicity.

On the results of their observation the representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly recognize that the presidential elections in the Republic of Belarus which took place on December 19^th, 2010 were held in accordance with current legislation, freely and openly, in the atmosphere of political pluralism. They also state that these elections were an important factor for stable development and further democratization of public life in the country.

According to the press service of the Union State Parliamentary Assembly