An Office with a History: OSCE ODIHR Ready to Send a Mission to Elections in Belarus

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) is ready to send its observers to Belarus for the upcoming presidential election. The structure is waiting for an invitation from Minsk, the press service of the structure told "Izvestia. At the same time, before the parliamentary elections in February 2024, Belarus refrained from inviting the OSCE mission because of "double standards in the observation system. In general, confidence in the organization on the part of some states has been undermined - and this applies not only to Belarus, but also to Russia.

The OSCE is waiting for an invitation from Minsk

The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights is one of the main institutions of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Its task, in particular, is to facilitate the elections. At the same time, the structure is ready to send its specialists to the voting for the future president of Belarus, which will be held on January 26 next year.

- We are currently awaiting an invitation to observe the upcoming elections in Belarus. ODIHR is also in contact with the Belarusian authorities to discuss the possibility of sending a needs assessment mission - this is a prerequisite in the run-up to the elections to determine the appropriate format for any potential observation activities," spokeswoman for the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Katja Andrusch told "Izvestia.

Before the parliamentary elections in the republic in February 2024 Minsk refused to invite observers from the organization. The representative of Belarus at international organizations in Vienna, Andrei Dapkiunas, explained this decision by the fact that their assessments were often biased. Also, one of the reasons was the fact that the restrictive visa lists of the European Union included Belarusian parliamentarians and representatives of the CEC, which de facto means a ban on their participation in election observation by the OSCE ODIHR and the OSCE PA in the EU countries. This, in turn, creates unequal conditions.

Also, according to Dapkiunas, earlier Belarus, Russia and some other countries proposed to the organization to develop unified norms of election monitoring, but the initiative was rejected.

At the same time, the OSCE ODIHR regretted Minsk's refusal to invite observers. OSCE PA Chairperson Pia Kauma, in turn, urged the Belarusian authorities "to be more open," and drew attention to the fact that observers from the assembly had been present at elections in the republic since 1995.

Nevertheless, Minsk did not refuse to cooperate with the organization during the elections. The Belarusian side was ready to reconsider its approaches to inviting OSCE observers, if the West would find an opportunity to abandon its sanctions policy and attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of the republic, said Andrei Dapkiunas.

Should we wait for the reaction of Belarus

One should not expect an invitation of an organized group of observers from the OSCE ODIHR, says Belarusian political scientist Alexei Dzermant to "Izvestia.

- Based on the level of relations with the EU and the West, I don't think there's a high probability of such an invitation. The elections are held for the citizens of Belarus, and we have no shortage of international observers. We have repeatedly made sure that the OSCE representatives know their assessments in advance and have their conclusions before the announcement of the voting results. Therefore, Belarus now has no need to run after the OSCE," he says.

Earlier, for example, it was reported that the CIS would form its own mission for the elections in the republic.

The double standards of the OSCE observation mission have been mentioned many times. Thus, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has repeatedly stressed that the structure is in a deep crisis and the only meaning of Russia's participation in it remains the ability to bring our position directly to the other 56 members of the organization. In his opinion, the OSCE has degenerated, does not care about the interests of the majority of its members and, in fact, serves the interests of the United States.

"The OSCE has turned into a tool of those who from across the ocean manipulate European processes and in recent years have simply subordinated Europe to their interests and removed Europe as a competitor in the economic sphere," the minister stated.

In addition, earlier Russia opposed the fact that the headquarters of the OSCE ODIHR should be located in Warsaw. This is due to Poland's blatant Russophobic policy, as well as visa manipulations, with the help of which Warsaw is trying to block the access of Russian public figures to OSCE events. At the same time, the headquarters of the organization itself is in Vienna.

The recent elections in Moldova and Georgia can be seen as one of the evidences of the organization's dual policy. In summarizing the results of the elections in Moldova, where the European integration-oriented Maia Sandu won, the OSCE observation mission concluded that the voting had been professionally organized.

Georgia's parliamentary elections were won by the ruling Georgian Dream party, under which the republic's relations with the West have begun to cool. In a statement on the results of the vote, the observation mission recognized it as legitimate, but stressed that the election had been held in a tense atmosphere and that there had been violations of the secrecy of the vote.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova earlier emphasized that the bureau fulfills a political order in its reports and provides the conclusions and findings expected by its clients. Such a conclusion, according to the diplomat, can be drawn from the assessments that ODIHR gave in its reports on the elections in Serbia in December 2023 or in Azerbaijan in February and September 2024. "Where there is a need to 'heat up' protests or cast doubt on the outcome of the election, the ODIHR's conclusions will be appropriate. Conversely, where violations and manipulations in the electoral process need to be hidden, the report will be lenient," she said.

Experience shows that the OSCE and its observation missions are not objective; the organization very often takes the position of one of the parties, said Dmitry Zhuravlev, research director of the Institute of Regional Problems and associate professor at the Finance University under the Government of the Russian Federation.

- In the case of the Ukrainian conflict, both play along with the West from a military point of view and express a view that confirms the rightness of one side, which was never part of the OSCE's tasks, it is not a judicial body. For example, the OSCE mission in Donbas directly transmitted intelligence to the Ukrainian side. Now the organization is purely fulfilling the interests of the West," he said.

It is also worth taking into account that the observation missions are traditionally dominated by representatives of Western countries, which in general already creates unequal rights for the participants.