Again, eastern Europe, communism heritage, and "free and fair" elections: the case of Belarus

This weekend Belarus celebrated its elections not without suspicious. The preliminary results in the Belarus parliamentary elections are in, although the final result will not be known for days. The authorities are claiming that, with a turnout of over 74%, 109 of the 110 parliaments had been reelected and the results were definitive. But by the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe), again Belarus' elections were flawed or downright fixed. This not free and fair condition has been pointed by OSCE since 1995.

This Parliamentary elections were dominated by candidates loyal to President Alexander Lukashenko, and because of it, they were not free or impartial as they should be.Some observers say the turnout was inflated and suspect there has been ballot-stuffing, as ballot boxes were left unguarded in polling stations during the week.

OSCE had 330 observers, and they argue that many prominent politicians who might have played an important role in the election remained in prison or they were not eligible to register because of their criminal record. The observers preferred not to stay to follow the count of votes.

The opposition parties had called for a boycott and withdrawn the elected candidates, saying that the 110-seat chamber would only accept or ratify President’s decisions. This claiming had little social effect.

It's important to say that Belarus is known as the last dictatorship in Europe. After this, what else could we say? Belarus is a young independent country (only since 1991) and Lukashenko is the president since 1994, with Soviet-era politics, despite of western tendencies. There's so many thing to do there in democratic matters that I couldnt' mention in only one post. So, I'll just say what I say everytime that I post something about east-Europe and ex-communist countries: there's no democracy, and unfortunately their past is still their present.