President Lukashenko of Belarus stated publicly that he ordered the manipulation of the final outcome of the presidential election in his country in 2006. He did this for “psychological reasons” (source: interview with president Lukashenko in Russia’s Izvestia newspaper on August 27, 2009).
President Lukashenko now revealed that the original outcome was a victory of his candidacy with 93% of votes cast and that he ordered to reduce his margin of victory substantially.
Elections should be free and fair and the counting process and publication of results should be fully transparent. The central electoral committee should verify and officially validate the final outcome of the presidential election.
The Council of Europe has opened a dialogue with the Belarus authorities. In this dialogue, the Council of Europe should uphold the values of democracy and the rule of law.
Mr Omtzigt,
To ask the Committee of Ministers,
1. Will the Committee of Ministers ask its Chairman to raise the lack of clarity surrounding the outcome of the 2006 presidential elections in Belarus and ask the Belarus authorities to publish the formal documentation concerning the final result of the counting of the votes in these elections and the officially validated outcome by the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Belarus? Will it ask the Belarus authorities to give the election result of each province both before and after the decision?
2. Will the Committee of Ministers ask the President of Belarus to publish the documentation concerning the decision making process on the final electoral outcome and the officially validated result of the 2006 presidential elections?
3. Will the Committee of Ministers send all the requested documents to the Parliamentary Assembly within three months?
4. What is the opinion of the Committee of Ministers on the comments by President Lukashenko concerning his own intervention for his re-election?
5. With these documents in hand, does the Committee of Ministers accept the integrity of the final outcome of the 2006 presidential election and consider the published result as a valid result and reflection of the free will of the Belarus people?
Signed:
OMTZIGT Pieter, Netherlands, EPP/CD