OSCE Chairman welcomes invitation to observe Belarus presidential election
(OSCE/Mikhail Evstafiev)OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht (centre), attends the Troika meeting in Vienna on 13 January 2006, with his counterparts from Slovenia, Dimitrij Rupel (left), and Spain, Miguel Angel Moratinos. (OSCE/Mikhail Evstafiev) Photo details
BRUSSELS, 19 January 2006 - The Chairman-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht, has welcomed the letter of the Belarus Foreign Minister, Sergei Martinov, inviting the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights to deploy an election observation mission for the presidential election on 19 March.
" I expect that the authorities of Belarus will ensure that all eligible candidates be permitted to register, and that the election process be conducted in a free and fair manner, including unimpeded access to the media by all candidates", Minister De Gucht said.