MINSK, 19 March (BelTA) – The Council of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly is preparing a statement on the inadmissibility of foreign interference in electoral processes of the CSTO member states, Chairman of the International Affairs and National Security Commission of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus Sergei Rachkov told journalists. The senator took part in a meeting of the Standing Committee on Political Affairs and International Cooperation of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly on 19 March, BelTA has learned.
“The elections held in 2020 and 2021 in the CSTO member states, including Belarus, demonstrated the maturity and stability of the electoral systems of our states. The elections were free, open, competitive and were held in line with national legislations and universal international commitments that each of the CSTO member states has,” Sergei Rachkov said.
At the same time, he pointed to the interference of certain foreign states and figures in electoral processes. “We consider it unacceptable. It is particularly outrageous that these structures are actively used by media outlets and social networks in order to convince, first of all, the foreign public of the undemocratic nature of the electoral systems in our countries. We strongly reject such approaches. The fact that media and social networks are beginning to use political censorship of online content deserves a special mention. Thus, there is direct or indirect interference in the electoral processes in our countries,” the senator said.
According to him, the parliamentarians would like to draw the attention of international organizations, including parliamentary ones, to an objective assessment of the actions of the heads of information resources that interfere in the electoral processes of the CSTO countries.
“We are not talking about taking action yet, we are just expressing our concern about what we saw in 2020 and early 2021. Elections were held in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and now Kyrgyzstan is gearing up for a referendum. We are preparing this statement, which will be considered at a meeting of the Council of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly in Dushanbe at the end of March. I am sure that the leaders and parliamentary delegations that will participate in the meeting will study this statement and will also discuss possible counter-measures,” Sergei Rachkov added.
