The so-called “single voting day” took place in Belarus on February 25. Propaganda attempted to show an unprecedented turnout and assure compliance with all electoral procedures. However, it failed to deceive the people who know what democracy is. Look at how representatives of democratic countries reacted to the sham elections.
Austrian MFA: “Today’s parliamentary and local elections in Belarus are neither free nor fair. We will continue to work for a free, independent and prosperous Belarus”.
Ukraine: “Our group “For a Democratic Belarus” urges the international community not to recognize their legitimacy and to use all available tools to get Lukashenka behind bars and out of the presidential palace!”
United States: “The United States condemns the Lukashenka regime’s sham parliamentary and local elections that concluded today in Belarus. The elections were held in a climate of fear under which no electoral processes could be called democratic”.
German MFA: “We strongly condemn the systemic repression surrounding the elections in Belarus. The Lukashenka regime employs all available means to suppress the democratic aspirations of the people of Belarus. It has witnessed their strength – and this strength continues to scare the regime”.
France: “The Lukashenka regime is organizing a parody of a legislative election this Sunday: without opposition and without international observers. We ask the MFA not to recognize the result of these elections and to maintain our support for the opposition”.
NATO PA President: “The sham elections in Belarus don’t fool anyone: they are meaningless. Our governments and parliaments must continue to denounce the regime’s repression, support Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s struggle for a democratic Belarus, and call for the release of political prisoners”.
Norwegian MFA: “The sham elections in Belarus yesterday represent a further deterioration of democratic principles and fundamental freedoms, in violation of
OSCE commitments. We condemn the systemic repressions in Belarus and support the democratic aspirations of the Belarusian people”.
PACE President: “These “elections” are a travesty of democracy and lack any democratic legitimacy”.
Chairman of Czech Foreign Affairs Committee: “I still remember, as an election observer within the OSCE mission, one “election” where everything was counted, written down, and then the head of the election commission took out a piece of paper with numbers from his shirt pocket, read them, and that was the final result”.
High Representative on parliamentary and local elections: “It is clear that conditions for free and fair elections were not met and new parliamentary and local officials lack democratic legitimacy. The EU continues to support the democratic right of the Belarusian people to elect their representatives through genuine, democratic and transparent elections”.
