Belarus Election Alert #1
People line up in Homel to sign a petition supporting the candidacy of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya on May 28. Source: rferl.org Will the Presidential election be a challenge for Lukashenka? Candidates’ signature collection and protests against Lukashenka continue amid crackdowns against candidates and activists. The Belarusian Presidential election is gearing up to be an exciting […]
Belarus Election Alert #1
The Belarusian Presidential election is gearing up to be an exciting race with mass public engagement and protests across the country against the incumbent President. EPDE cooperates with the joint election observation campaign, the “Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections”. Until the election day on August 9, EPDE will share reports from this observation campaign […]
HRDs insist on immediate release of all activists charged under Article 342 of the Criminal Code
Siarhei Tsikhanouski at an election picket in Hrodna. Photo: tut.by Statement by the human rights community of Belarus on the criminal charges against Siarhei Tsikhanouski and six other participants in the May 29 picket in Hrodna Minsk – June 9, 2020 On May 29, during a picket held in Hrodna to collect signatures in […]
Police use excessive force dispersing protests and government crackdown on independent voices continues
Students gathered in front of the Ministry of Education on 1 June. Photo: Fargana Novruzova. oc-media.org Azerbaijan is currently under extended quarantine regime until the 15th of June. Most of the restrictions are lifted, however, temporarily harsh quarantine regime covering the first weekend of June has been installed and more weekends to follow. From […]
Weekly Report – mass arrests and detentions of opposition activists
In this weekly report, observers from HRDFE report that mass arrests and detentions of opposition activists, including members of Tsikhanouskaya’s nomination group, took place in different cities of the country during the week. Observers also note that the CEC interpreted electoral law selectively in the favor of certain candidates, e.g. complaints filed against Lukashenka’s nomination […]
Weekly report: mass arrests and detentions of opposition activists
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”. SUMMARY during the period of the report, the registered nomination groups continued to collect signatures to support the nomination of candidates for President of […]
Verkhovna Rada adopts changes to the Electoral Code
Verkhovna Rada adopted the draft law No. 3485 “On Introducing Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on Improving Electoral Law,” in the first reading. It introduces changes to the Electoral Code. The decision was supported by 292 MPs. The draft law also took into account certain proposals from the Civil Network OPORA. On June, 4, during […]
ODIHR releases further opinion document on new Draft Act on conduct of Presidential election
On 14 May 2020, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (hereinafter “ODIHR”) received a request from Dr. Adam Bodnar, Commissioner for Human Rights of Poland, to provide a legal opinion (hereinafter “opinion”) on the Draft Act on special rules for the organisation of the general election of the President of the Republic […]
ISFED uncovers further false media pages that survived the Facebook takedown
In April 2020, Facebook removed 943 pages, profiles, groups and Instagram accounts engaged in domestic political campaigns in Georgia, for coordinated inauthentic behavior. Among them was a network of false media pages identified by ISFED. The primary tactic of false media pages removed in April was sharing of posts in public and private groups through the use of Facebook […]
MEPs ‘deeply worried’ by nationwide crackdown and discriminatory election processes ahead of Presidential election
In a joint statement, MEPs Robert Biedroń, chair of the delegation for relations with Belarus, and Petras Auštrevičius, EP’s standing rapporteur on Belarus, voiced their concerns over the crackdowns on peaceful protesters and civil society activists ahead of the Presidential election and over the discriminatory approach in which territorial election commissions have been composed, with […]