CIS observers do not call Belarus election democratic
Observers from CIS member states did not call the presidential election in Belarus democratic
Sergei Lebedev, head of CIS monitoring mission, on Saturday said in an interview with STV channel. CIS observers avoided using words "democratic" and "democracy" when evaluating this election. In the view of Sergei Lebedev, the word "democracy" means different notions in various countries. For instance, Western observers once recognized the elections in Iraq and Afghanistan as democratic, yet they objectively fell short of democratic standards, reckons the head of CIS monitoring mission.
Citizens of Belarus had the right to choose the candidate they wanted, according to CIS observers. Sergei Lebedev also noted that OSCE has no common election observation standards. Therefore, CIS and Western countries exercise different criteria, reports Belapan.
Lebedev was also surprised that OSCE observers expressed different assessment before and after the Election Day. As for the actions of the opposition, the head of CIS monitoring mission reckons it was not logical to call people to come to the square before votes were counted.
