Irish senator to monitor elections in Belarus

Irish senator Deirdre de Burca is in Eastern Europe today to monitor parliamentary elections in Belarus.

The former Soviet republic has been ruled for the past 14 years by Alexander Lukashenko, who has been called Europe's last dictator.

Senator de Burca is there as Ireland's official delegate to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

The Green Party member says Belarus has quite a way to go in terms of becoming a real democracy, but today's parliamentary elections play an important part in that process.