MINSK, 6 August (BelTA) – Belarus has sent invitations to monitor its parliamentary elections to a number of international organizations, including the OSCE PA, the CIS Executive Committee and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Chairperson of the Belarusian Central Election Commission (CEC) Lidia Yermoshina told the media on 6 August, BelTA has learned.
Lidia Yermoshina said that she received the appropriate information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 6 August. “Letters have been sent to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the CIS Executive Committee and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. In other words, observers representing international organizations have already been invited,” she informed.
The CEC will later send invitations to its counterparts from central commissions and the Association of World Election Bodies headquartered in the Republic of Korea.
According to Lidia Yermoshina, invitations are to be sent to the central election commissions of the countries where representatives of the Belarusian CEC monitored elections. “These are the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan. In general, all the CIS member states plus Ukraine, Georgia and Korea,” said Lidia Yermoshina.
She could not name a preliminary number of international observers, since the missions have not been formed yet.
On 6 August the Central Election Commission convened for a session to discuss matters related to the elections to the National Assembly of Belarus of the 7th convocation. In particular, the commission has approved the schedules of organizational activities to conduct the elections to the House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic.
A reminder, Lidia Yermoshina met with Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko on 30 July. Following the meeting she told reporters that Belarus will not place any limits on the number of international observers for the elections to the House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic
On 5 August Belarusian head of state Aleksandr Lukashenko signed Decree No. 293 and Decree 294 to set the dates for the elections to the Council of the Republic and the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus of the 7th convocation. They will be held on 7 and 17 November 2019 respectively.
