German MFA reminds Belarusian authorities about conditions

• 15.09.2010, 13:02

Markus Löning, the Commissioner for Human Rights Policy at the Federal Foreign Office, urges the Belarusian authorities to hold presidential elections in line with international standards.

As Löning says in his statement spread by the German Federal Foreign Office, the standards include participation of political parties in the elections, securing access to the media for all candidates, including opposition representatives in electoral commissions and transparent vote counting, BelaPAN reports.

The Commissioner for Human Rights expressed a hope that the Belarusian leadership would invite among others OSCE long-term observers to monitor the elections.

Europe will closely follow the electoral campaign, the statement says.

It should be reminded that on September 14, Maja Kocijancic, the spokesperson for EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton, told BelaPAN the European Union hopes the presidential elections in Belarus would be carried out in line with European and international standards. She stressed the “utmost importance” of the election observation and noted: “Democratic elections would give a considerable new impetus to the EU's engagement policy towards Belarus.”

On September 14, the House of Representatives of the Belarusian parliament set the date for the presidential elections for December 19, 2010. Head of the Central Election Commission Lidzia Yarmoshyna said invitations would be sent to as many international observers as possible.