Belarus Elections
London, 17 March 2006
Lord Alderdice, President of Liberal International, has deplored the arrests and intimidation of opposition leaders and the restrictions on international election monitors in Belarus in the run up to the Presidential elections on 19 March. Presidential candidate, Aleksandr Kazulin, and opposition leaders Anatoly Lebedko and Vintsuk Vyachorka are amongst those who have been arrested.
A group of accredited election monitors from the OSCE have been refused entry visas, and some members of the ‘Support Initiative for Liberals in the Baltic States' (SILBA), a Danish NGO, were arrested and expelled from Belarus when they attempted to observe the early voting which started on 14 March.
Lord Alderdice stated that, 'Persecution and suppression of political opposition is incompatible with democracy. Election monitors are trying to ensure that this election is free and fair. Unfortunately, it appears that instead it will be marked by the same undemocratic abuses that characterise daily life for the people of Belarus under the current administration.'
Liberal International urges the EU to follow through with its threatened imposition of sanctions on Belarus if it becomes clear that the March presidential elections will not meet international election standards. Liberal International further calls upon its Member parties to apply pressure on the government of Belarus so that election monitors are able to work free from arrest and intimidation in the interests of the democratic rights of the people of Belarus.