By suddenly calling elections* six months before the expected date and leaving 95 days for the entire procedure, the authorities once again instrumentalized electoral procedures, adjusting the election date to political objectives, thereby violating electoral legislation from the point of view of equality of opportunity for candidates and the principle of election predictability stipulated by international electoral standards.

Conducting a free and open election campaign is impossible in a situation of ongoing political terror: the list of political prisoners is updated weekly and there are consistently more than 1,300 people in it. The information space has been entirely purged; nearly all independent media outlets have been forced out of the country, and the distribution of their materials from abroad is severely hindered by politically motivated misuse of anti-extremist legislation. The “state ideology” serves the cult of authoritarian rule of A. Lukashenka. There is no recognition of the importance of political pluralism in the public field.

The incredible pressure on civil society organizations, especially human rights organizations, and their widespread liquidation exclude civilian control over the conduct of elections. There is no independent civilian monitoring of the elections within the country; at the moment, only the politically biased international election observers are invited.

In such conditions, it can be ascertained that it is impossible for citizens to exercise their electoral rights freely.