Belarus has not yet gone all the way to democratic elections - OSCE observer mission head
MINSK. Sept 12 (Interfax) - Belarus has partly fulfilled its promises on democratization of the electoral process, but has yet to take some more steps in this direction, the Special Co-ordinator of the OSCE's short-term observers for the parliamentary election in Belarus, Kent Harstedt, said.
Belarus is to take more steps towards democratic elections, Harstedt told reporters in Minsk on Monday.
He recalled that the country had made a number of pledges with regard to electoral process transparency.
Those promises have been fulfilled in part, although some progress was made, Harstedt said.
Harstedt went on to note that OSCE observers were saddened by having been unable to notice any significant progress in improving the electoral process in Belarus. More things could have been done about it, he said.
Also, he noted that the country did not demonstrate any serious advancement with regard to the presence of opposition representatives in the parliament. No serious progress has been made in this regard, but apparently, quite the contrary, Harstedt said.
In his view, the country's electoral legislation needs a complex reform.
Eventually, some positive moments were also recorded during this electoral campaign, particularly, with regard to facilitation of the work of international observers, Harstedt said.