Belarus goes to presidential elections

Belarus is set to hold a presidential election on 26 January with five registered candidates, including incumbent Alexander Lukashenko. The OSCE was not invited to observe the vote, calling it a blow to transparency, while the CIS mission reported a calm electoral process.

Five candidates’ names are registered for a presidential election in Belarus on Sunday, with the incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko in the list. 

Among other four candidates there are Chairman of the Republican Party of Labor and Justice Alexander Khizhnyak, Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party of Belarus Oleg Gaidukevich, entrepreneur Anna Kanopatskaya, and First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus Sergei Syrankov.

In power since 1994, the 70-year-old Alexander Lukashenko positioned himself as a leader who would take care to “build enterprises and provide people with not just jobs, but make them more happy about their salaries” instead of engaging in an election campaign. "To be honest I don't follow it. I simply don't have time for it," he told factory workers last week.

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) said in the joint statement that OSCE participating States were not invited to observe the country’s presidential election. 

 “This decision is deeply regrettable. The lack of co-operation from Belarus diminishes the spirit of trust that underpins the OSCE even more and the lack of transparency further undermines faith in the electoral system of Belarus,” - said OSCE PA President Pia Kauma. 

The statement noted this is the third time since the August 2020 presidential elections that ODIHR has been unable to observe elections in Belarus due to the lack of a timely invitation.  
Parliamentary Assembly ’s General Rapporteur for a Democratic Belarus, Ryszard Petru warns “the so-called presidential elections arranged in Belarus for 26 January 2025 are set to be a sham that, again, deny the right of the Belarusian people to participate in free and fair elections.”

“The widespread repression by the Lukashenka regime that led to the arbitrary detention of tens of thousands of peaceful protesters after the fraudulent elections of 2020 has only continued to this day in blatant disregard of international law and democratic norms,” he stated and noted that “over 1,200 political prisoners remain in detention, opposition political parties and trade unions have been liquidated and their leaders persecuted, and up to 500,000 Belarusians now live in exile.” 

At the same time, the CIS observation mission to the presidential election has issued an interim report saying that the rally is conducting in “calm manner and in strict compliance with the electoral legislation, and candidates have been provided with generally equal conditions for campaigning and the right to speak in the media.”
“The efforts that the country created give us a confidence that elections will be held in a smooth and calm manner, with no provocations in the voting process,” Sergei Lebedev, Head of CIS observation mission said as BelTA reported.

CIS delegation consists of 290 observers from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly, the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union State of Belarus and Russia, the Union State Standing Committee, and the CIS Executive Committee.

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