Statement by the Press Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, on the Parliamentary Elections in the Republic of Belarus

September 26, 2012
Japanese

On Sunday, September 23, parliamentary elections were held in the Republic of Belarus, and the international election observation mission was dispatched by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) / the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), in which a Japanese observer also participated. On Monday, September 24, the mission reported that, despite some improvements to the electoral law, many OSCE commitments were not respected. The Japanese observer also pointed out problems such as restricted access to the observation of the vote count process. In light of this, the Government of Japan shares the view described in the OSCE report.
The Government of Japan expresses concern that the fairness of the elections has been called into question, and encourages the Belarusian authorities to continue to engage in dialogue and work together with the international community towards the democratization of Belarus, and to adhere to the principles of democracy. At the same time, the Government of Japan will continue to engage in dialogue and extend any possible assistance to Belarus as democratization in Belarus is important for the stability of the region as a whole.

(*The foregoing is a provisional translation. The date indicated above denotes the date of issue of the original press release in Japanese.)

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