At the meeting of the CEC on June 19, Head of the Central Election Commission of Belarus Lidia Yermoshina told who of the OSCE had made a negative assessment of the elections in Belarus and how. "Negative assessments are written in the quiet rooms not by those who directly monitored the election, but by a group of officials who carry out these functions, rather than observe the elections directly," she said.
According to CEC secretary Nikolai Lozovik, the OSCE management "omits positive evaluations of observers," without pointing to them in the final document. "I’m sincerely sorry for conscientious observers, who gave a positive assessment of the elections in Belarus. However their views were ignored by the leadership of the OSCE," said the official, BelaPAN.
However, according to Lidia Yermoshina, the CEC of Belarus works "well" with international observers. She stressed that Belarus would continue to "openly accept international observers, as it used to be," reports the AFN.
In turn, Nikolai Lozovik stressed that "any observer will be able to examine any stage of the campaign, as well as realistically assess the electoral process."
However, he regrets that there is no leverage of "the reverse effect on the observer" in Belarus. "If the Convention on the criteria of observation is adopted in the framework of the CIS, the OSCE lacks such a document. Sometimes we confront the fact that the report is falsified, but can’t influence the state of affairs," said the CEC secretary.
As Telegraf previously reported, the OSCE does not recognize elections in Belarus as legitimate. However, December 20, 2010, chairman of the Central Election Commission of Belarus Lidia Yermoshina admitted that she hoped for the OSCE observer mission to recognize the presidential election.
