Preliminary report on the presidential election
Observation of the presidential election is carried out by the Belarusian Helsinki Committee and the Human Rights Center “Viasna” in the framework of the campaign “Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections”. CONCLUSIONS The pre-election period was characterized by an economic decline against the background of contradictions in Belarusian-Russian relations and a considerable budget shortfall caused […]
Preliminary report on the presidential election
The Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections state in their preliminary report on the conduct of the presidential election that the electoral process at all of its stages did not comply with a number of basic international standards for democratic and fair elections and was accompanied by numerous violations of these principles and requirements of […]
Belarus Election Alert #6
Photo: www.newsabc.net Human rights activists in Belarus have called this election campaign gross falsification of the vote and the official turnout during early voting, which was confirmed in a statement saying that “Belarus failed to live up to its constitutional and international commitments, unduly restricting political rights and fundamental freedoms during the election period”. […]
Belarus Election Alert #6
Following the presidential election on August 9 and the declaration of Lukashenka’s victory, protests broke out across Belarus. They were dispersed violently by law enforcement agencies, resulting in numerous injuries, at least one casualty, and thousands of arrests. In this post-election edition Election Alert, we share the preliminary report and post E-Day statements of the […]
Human rights activists call to end arrests, violence and use of weapons against peaceful civilians
Joint statement by human rights organizations of Belarus Minsk – August 10, 2020 We, representatives of Belarusian human rights organizations, strongly protest against the actions of law enforcement agencies against peaceful demonstrators. The right to express an opinion at peaceful assemblies is one of the most important human rights. Belarus does not have effective mechanisms […]
Worst election ever’: Domestic observers sum up their disrupted monitoring campaign
The domestic election observation campaign “Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections” has presented a report on the interim results of observation of the presidential election at a press conference on August 10. The human rights activists called the 2020 vote “the worst election ever”. According to Aleh Hulak, a co-head of the observation initiative, there is little trust […]
Lukashenka used every trick in his outdated playbook to survive’
Image source: Facebook Franak Viacorka The presidential election in Belarus fell well short of international standards for transparent, free and fair elections, and saw a clear attempt by the authorities to manipulate the outcome, according to independent election monitoring organisations. In a post-election statement (below), the election monitors – MEMO 98, the EAST Research […]
Hundreds detained in post-election protests. Multiple injured. One reported dead
A girl hit with a rubber bullet. Photo: svaboda.org Riot police dispersed a series of post-election protests held in Minsk and other cities of Belarus. Excessive violence, tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons were used against the peaceful protesters in Minsk. Several people were injured, including one protester reportedly run over by a […]
Belarus Election Alert #5
Photo: Sergei Gapon / AFP. Belarus’ riot police officers watch opposition supporters in Minsk Early voting ended on August 8, 2020. The Central Election Commission (CEC)’s imposition of deprived of accreditation. Most of the observers admitted to the polling stations represent pro-government NGOs, as stated in the appealed to the Belarusian authorities to respect […]
Weekly Report – early voting
From the first days of early voting, observers from various civic initiatives faced obstacles from PEC members and police officers. Numerous observers were removed from polling stations, deprived of accreditation, and even detained. The restrictions imposed by the CEC on the number of observers at polling stations during early voting made this electoral phase completely […]