Belarus elections labelled unfair

Parliamentary elections in Belarus have been condemned by neutral observers after a whitewash victory for president Alexander Lukashenko.

Only politicians supporting his policies won seats in the country’s 110-seat legislature, and the critical assessment by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe is likely to cement the country’s diplomatic isolation.

The OSCE said in its assessment of Sunday’s election that the vote did not meet international standards.

Belarus’ parliament has long been considered a rubber-stamp body for Mr Lukashenko’s policies. He has ruled the former Soviet nation since 1994 and Western observers have criticised all recent elections in Belarus as undemocratic.

The main opposition parties had boycotted the election to protest at the detention of political prisoners and opportunities for election fraud.

“This election was not competitive from the start,” said Matteo Mecacci, leader of the OSCE’s short-term observer mission. “A free election depends on people being free to speak, organise and run for office, and we didn’t see that in this campaign.”

The United States and the European Union have imposed economic and travel sanctions on the Belarusian government over its crackdown on opposition groups and independent news media.

While the OSCE acknowledged recent improvements to the electoral law and noted that many election-day procedures were handled positively, it echoed complaints by local observers about the vote count.

“Observers were not given a meaningful opportunity to observe the count and evaluated the process negatively in a significant number of polling stations observed,” the OSCE said.