Elections in Belarus 2015

The United States is disappointed that the elections fell significantly short of Belarus’ international obligations and commitments for free and fair elections, as demonstrated by reports from the OSCE ODIHR and Parliamentary Assembly election observation missions.

According to the National Statistical Committee, compared to December last year, food prices grew by 7%, non-food products – by 10.1%, services – 13.4%.

The swearing-in ceremony of the newly-elected president is to take place no later than December, 11, Lidziya Yarmoshyna, the chair of the Belarusian Cenral Election Commission, said.

Belsat.eu received a report of one of the independent observers in Minsk. Zmicier Sauka describes how the elections at his station were rigged.

This happens to be the only short arrest within the election evening.

Polish journalist Maria Przełomiec says that the West is too busy with its own problems now. In her opinion, it is not interested in what is happening in Belarus.

This year’s election is unprecedentedly popular: going to the polls, many people jump at the opportunity to do shopping at refreshment rooms which are laden of food products and alcoholic beverages at low prices

The latest news on the election of the President of the Republic of Belarus (by Minsk time).

Праспект Незалежнасці ў Менску амаль пусты, як і навакольныя вуліцы. Independence Avenue, the main street in Minsk, is almost empty; so are the surrounding streets. Have its residents gone out of the city or they don’t want to be mistaken for a protester?

Presidential candidate Tatsiana Karatkevich, her mother and husband have cast their votes at polling station Nr 8 in Minsk.

During early voting ballot rigging is as easy as ABC. Zmitser Kaspyarovich, a member of Minsk city election commission, states that the number of signatures and the number of issued ballots does not match in some districts of the Belarusian capital.

President Alyaksandr Lukashenka voiced his attitude towards the fact that the Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich had been awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature.

It’s hard not to appreciate the agility of the Royal Swedish Academy, which, by presenting Alexievich with the award, exhibited a high-brow trolling… but not of Lukashenka – it was primarily a dig at Putin.

Is Belarus a bellwether for democracy, resistant to the forces of history, or simply stuck with the Kremlin? Belsat TV journalist Hanna Liubakova is brooding about the subject on newamerica.org.

The European Union will lift its sanctions on Belarus, including those on president Alyaksandr Lukashenka, for four months after Sunday’s vote barring any last-minute crackdown, reuters.com reports with reference to diplomatic sources.