Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06MINSK309
2006-03-22 11:01:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Minsk
Cable title:  

OSCE Rebukes Belarus Elections

Tags:  PGOV PINR PREL BO 
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VZCZCXRO7808
RR RUEHCD RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHLA RUEHMRE RUEHSR
DE RUEHSK #0309/01 0811101
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 221101Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY MINSK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4055
INFO RUCNOSC/ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 1003
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MINSK 000309 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

KIEV ALSO FOR USAID
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL BO
SUBJECT: OSCE Rebukes Belarus Elections

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; PROTECT ACCORDINGLY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MINSK 000309

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

KIEV ALSO FOR USAID
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL BO
SUBJECT: OSCE Rebukes Belarus Elections

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; PROTECT ACCORDINGLY


1. (U) Summary. At a joint press conference on March 20, OSCE
Parliamentary Assembly and OSCE ODIHR representatives declared that
the presidential elections in Belarus did not meet international
standards or OSCE commitments for free and fair elections.
Preliminary conclusions from their observations highlighted some
positive aspects, but mainly focused on the elections'
shortcomings, including a "problematic vote count," non-transparent
early voting, KGB allegations that opposition leaders were planning
a terrorist attack, and the overwhelming coverage of President
Lukashenko in the state media prior to the elections. Opposition
candidate Aleksandr Milinkevich criticized the OSCE assessment as
"too soft." Not surprisingly, the CIS observation team called the
Belarusian elections "open and transparent." End Summary.


2. (U) On March 20, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) and OSCE
Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) held a
joint press conference to announce their assessment of the March 19
Belarusian presidential elections. ODIHR fielded 37 long-term
observers and 439 short-term observers, while OSCE PA contributed
107 observers to the March 19 election observation mission.

OSCE Said Elections Did Not Meet International Standards
-------------- --------------


3. (U) OSCE PA President Alcee Hastings criticized the March 19
Belarusian presidential elections, saying that they did not meet
international standards or OSCE commitments for free and fair
elections. While he admitted that Belarus has made some progress
in conducting elections, citing as an example the registration of
the candidates, Hastings stated that the shortcomings of this
election far outweighed the positive aspects. Hastings noted that
Belarus failed to live up to its international commitments when the
GOB prevented observers from participating and denied visas and
entry to 19 PA observers. Hastings accused the GOB of abusing its
power in order to prevent free and fair elections, especially the
GOB's disregard of Belarusian citizens' rights to freedom of
assembly, and association and the GOB's intimidation and
suppression of independent voices and media. He urged the GOB to

make use of the OSCE's knowledge and added that he hoped Belarus
would maintain an open and constructive dialogue with OSCE members
and institutions.

ODIHR Remarked On Deterioration of the Elections
-------------- ---


4. (U) Head of the long-term ODIHR observation mission Ambassador
Geert-Hinrich Ahrens echoed Hastings sentiments that the elections
were not free and fair. Ahrens said that ODIHR came to Belarus
with an open mind six weeks ago with the hope of good cooperation
during the election monitoring mission. Much to his regret,
however, Ambassador Ahrens said that he could not offer a positive
assessment of the elections in Belarus because of the numerous
violations of international election standards. He added that he
was "deeply saddened to witness the deterioration that occurred
towards the end of the election campaign." Ahrens reminded the
audience that the OSCE statement does not mean "the door has been
slammed shut on Belarus," and expressed his hope for future
cooperation with the country.

Highlights from OSCE PA/ODIHR's Preliminary Conclusions
-------------- --------------


5. (U) After the press conference, OSCE PA and ODIHR offered a
preliminary conclusions report and promised a full report in eight
weeks. The preliminary report focused on the shortcomings of the
elections, which they claimed far outweighed the positive aspects.
The report said that OSCE PA and ODIHR were deeply troubled by the
vote count process. According to the preliminary conclusions, vote
counting was "problematic and lacked transparency." Although
physically present, observers could not follow the counting process
in a meaningful way and concluded that the transparency was bad or
very bad. Observers were not permitted to stand close enough to
see the count and many of the results were recorded in pencil.
Observers reported that 69 percent of polling stations did not
announce the number of votes for each candidate before completing
the protocols.


6. (U) The OSCE preliminary report detailed concerns with the "non-
transparent" early voting process in Belarus. While orderly, 11
percent of spot reports on early voting characterized the process
negatively. The lack of clearly defined procedures to document and
store ballots could easily lead to voting malfeasance. Under great
pressure from officials, many voters, including students and state
employees, were instructed to vote early.


7. (U) While the preliminary conclusions reported that 89 percent
of OSCE PA and ODIHR observers assessed the Election Day voting
positively, 11 percent offered negative assessments for various

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violations including failure to mark ballots in secret, family and
group voting, improperly sealed ballot boxes, visible candidate
campaign material, and a series of identical signatures on voting
lists. Unauthorized persons, including police, emergency response
staff and firemen, were at 7 percent of polling stations.


8. (U) OSCE's preliminary conclusions also highlighted a KGB
statement accusing the opposition of planning a terrorist attack
under the guise of elections as one of the shortcomings. OSCE went
on to add that state media's overwhelming and favorable coverage of
Lukashenko contributed to their negative assessment of the
elections. In approximately 16 hours of news devoted to the four
candidates on the major state TV and radio channels, Lukashenko
received more than 93 percent of the coverage, and in some cases 99
percent. OSCE also reported that by March 18, 10 of Milinkevich's
30 authorized representatives, 100 Milinkevich activists, and 80
Kozulin campaign supporters were under arrest/detention.


9. (U) OSCE PA and OSCE/ODIHR noted several positive aspects of
the campaign including the registration of four candidates, thus
offering the voters the potential for choice; the efficiency of the
CEC; the large number of women represented on election
administration boards; the opportunities for the candidates to use
the media, albeit somewhat censored; and peaceful and orderly
voting on Election Day.

Questions at the Press Conference
--------------


10. (U) During the question and answer session that followed the
press conference, Hastings admitted that there were many
shortcomings in the elections, but urged all that have complaints
to use the court system or peaceful protests to settle disputes in
a nonviolent manner. In response to inquiries as to why their
statements were not harsher, Hastings answered that he did not see
how the organizations' statement could be any more forceful since
they declared that the elections did not meet international
standards or OSCE commitments. Ahrens stressed that their
assessment was supported by substantial empirical evidence, citing
more than 3,500 reported violations from observers on Election Day.
Hastings followed up by saying that no one was afraid to offer a
negative assessment, and that "they called it [i.e. the elections]
the way they saw it."


11. (U) When asked if he feared that OSCE would not be invited back
to Belarus, Hastings told reporters that the Parliamentary Assembly
has a good working group and that he is confident that the dialogue
would continue. In response to an inquiry regarding what he
thought about the opposition's statement that they do not recognize
the president, Hastings replied that he was not in a position to
support anyone's statements. When asked how OSCE could lend
legitimacy to an election they knew would not be free or fair by
sending an observation mission, Hastings responded that the OSCE PA
and ODIHR could not possibly have known what they would find out or
observe until they came to observe and reminded the journalist that
to have done anything else would have been to pre-judge the
elections. Ahrens added that ODIHR sent out an assessment team
prior to accepting the observation invitation to determine the
situation in Belarus warranted a full observation mission.

Milinkevich Declares OSCE Assessment to be "Too Soft"
-------------- --------------


12. (U) On March 20, opposition leader Aleksandr Milinkevich
announced his dissatisfaction with the OSCE PA and OSCE/ODIHR's
evaluation of the elections, saying that their assessment was "too
soft." In protest, Milinkevich claimed that the opposition would
not recognize the results of the presidential elections.
Milinkevich also promised that the opposition would not split up
after the elections, but would "continue its work."

CIS Observation Mission Calls Elections "Open and Transparent"
-------------- --------------


13. (U) At an earlier press conference on March 20, CIS election
observation team head Vladimir Rushailo declared the Belarusian
presidential elections to be open and transparent. The 467 CIS
observers identified 98 violations during the election process,
ranging from problems with candidate registration and signature
collection to voter booths that were "too narrow." In general,
however, Rushailo said the CIS mission concluded that "Belarus
created the necessary legal and organizational environment for
monitoring the elections, which indicates that the elections were
open." CIS observers commented that the elections occurred against
a backdrop of "unprecedented external pressure," including biased
statements and pre-judgments by foreign countries as well political
and economic pressure in order aimed at influencing the outcome of
the elections.

Comment

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--------------


14. (SBU) ODIHR observers told Poloffs on March 19 that these
elections "set new lows in many ways." Observers also revealed to
Post that ODIHR's original version of the assessment was much
harsher, but had to be softened in order to find common language to
which both OSCE PA and ODIHR could agree.

KROL