Karpenko assessed Presidential election in Belarus

Among the phrases describing the Presidential election in Belarus were ‘the most peaceful in the history of our country’, ‘unprecedentedly open’, and others. In his talk with the ONT TV channel, Igor Karpenko, the Chairman of the Central Election Commission, shared his personal view on the election campaign.

“I would call it convincing, because whoever wanted to see what really happened saw it. In turn, those who did not want to do that, thought in cliches and gave appropriate assessments," Mr. Karpenko emphasised. “I have been involved in a serious electoral process since 2006 (I then headed the Minsk City Commission for Presidential Election). I well remember all the assessments with complaints.”

The CEC Chairman added, “Now, when travelling to various countries where electoral campaigns are being held, for example, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, wherever we are, the OSCE always uses these cliches, saying that there was no political competition, and so on. I must say that they are right about something, and they actually shot themselves in the foot with such statements. For example, if we were in Azerbaijan where 912 people applied for 127 seats in Parliament, then, of course, they were competitive. However, from the OSCE’s point of view, the parties that they and the West supported, financed, and so on either did not participate or lost, and it is clear that there is no political competition for them. Therefore, I already treat these stamps very calmly and with restraint. The Head of State was right in saying that we are making a choice for our country, for our people, so it [the election] should be assessed exclusively by the Belarusian people and our national observers.”