The European Union will not send observers to the Belarusian referendum, RIA News reports, citing Peter Stano, the representative of the European Foreign Affairs Service.
«We have noted that the Belarusian authorities have not invited the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights to deploy an observation mission in Belarus. The EU, for its part, does not plan to send any official mission for monitoring of the voting in Belarus,» he said.
According to Stano, individual EU citizens may come to Belarus, but it will not be an official mission. Before that, the head of the Presidential Administration Igor Sergeyenko said that about 30 people would come from the EU to observe the voting.
«We will continue to monitor developments in Belarus prior to the referendum and on voting day and respond accordingly,» Stano added.
Belarusian Central Election Commission officially accredited 39 909 national observers for the referendum, more than 29 thousand of whom represent trade unions, BRSM, «Belaya Rus» and Belarusian Union of Women. Another 1,557 observers were delegated by political parties, including almost a thousand from the Communist Party. Labour unions sent 3370 observers, citizens – 5646. In addition, the Central Election Commission accredited 101 international observers, 92 of them represent the CIS Observer Mission, including 14 sent by the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the CIS member states, as well as eight observers directly from the CECs of other countries.
Source: Reform.by
