Chairman of House of Representatives meets with Vice President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly

     Belarus will do everything necessary to hold the summer session the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe at a high organizational level, Chairman of the House of Representatives Vladimir Andreichenko said as he met with Vice President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and OSCE Special Coordinator for the parliamentary elections in Belarus Kent Harstedt.  Minsk will host the 26th session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly on 5-9 July in 2017. Vladimir Andreichenko expressed appreciation to Kent Harstedt, who, according to the Speaker, made a considerable contribution to Belarus winning the bid to host the event. Speaking about the forthcoming parliamentary elections, Vladimir Andreichenko expressed hope for the unbiased final assessment by international observers:

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         “Our country is open in terms of the policies it implements, and these elections will help show it.
In addition to European colleagues we invited the Parliamentary Assembly of the Belarus-Russia Union Sate, CIS IPA, CSTO PA, CIS Executive Committee, OSCE ODIHR, and SCO, where we recently received the observer status, to monitor the elections. We have always said that we put no restrictions on either the size of the mission or the length of stay in the country. On August 11, last week, we completed registration of parliamentary candidates. I believe you are aware of the fact that a total of 521 persons have been registered, including 331 representatives of political parties, which is more than a half of the total number. They represent 9 political parties.”

        According to the Speaker, it is important that the political competition should not take on illegal forms and should be constructive. “We must not allow that such values as peace, order and the rule of law get questioned. Our election code is consistent with international standards. We have introduced a number of procedural changes following the OSCE/ODIHR recommendations after the presidential election 2015,” the Speaker noted. Vladimir Andreichenko recalled that an interdepartmental expert group has been set up at the Central Election Commission to work out the proposals for the improvement of the electoral legislation. It will continue to work after the parliamentary elections.

          For his part, Kent Harstedt said he felt comfortable in Belarus and expressed the hope for fruitful cooperation with the Belarusian side.

         Members of the OSCE PA and PACE usually take part in short observation as part of an international election observation mission under the auspices of the OSCE/ODIHR. It is planned that the OSCE PA monitoring mission consisting of 70 to 100 people will arrive in Belarus a few days before the elections. So far, the CEC has accredited two observers from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. The elections to the House of Representatives are due on 11 September.

All photos provided by press service of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus