France, president of EU, concerned at “elections” in Belarus

• 1.10.2008, 9:04

The EU’s French presidency he EU's French presidency on Tuesday voiced concern at the parliamentary elections in Belarus after the OSCE judged the vote to be non-democratic, the AFP reports referring to the EU’s statement.

The findings of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) election watchdog "concern" the EU presidency "which calls on the Belarusian authorities to pursue efforts in order to conform with international democratic standards," an EU statement said.

The “parliamentary elections” were held in Belarus on September 28. 264 candidates contested in 110 seats. About 100 opposition candidates failed to get to the “parliament”.

The OSCE/ODIHR election observing mission didn’t recognise the “parliamentary elections” in Belarus free and democratic. OSCE observers noted “bad or very bad” process of vote count in 50 per cent of the cases. 40 per cent of the observers weren’t able to monitor the vote counting in full. The elections ultimately fell short of OSCE standards.