Statement by the Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the situation after the Presidential Election of the Republic of Belarus

December 21, 2010
Japanese

The Government of Japan is deeply concerned over the incident in the Republic of Belarus, where, following the voting of the Presidential Election on December 19 (Sun), participants to a protest clashed with security forces, resulting in injuries and detention of a number of participants including Presidential candidates.
The International Election Observation Mission organized by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) / the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) issued a report on December 20 (Mon), in which it concluded that the Election did not meet the international commitments, although some improvements were made. The Japanese observers dispatched to the OSCE mission also reported that the vote counting process remained doubtful, while their observation activities were smoothly conducted generally under the cooperative attitude of the Belarusian side.
The Government of Japan urges the authorities of the Republic of Belarus to ensure principles of democracy, and hopes that the Belarusian authorities will continue dialogue and cooperative attitudes with the international community.

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