The Head of the Central Election Commission (CEC), Lidia Yermoshina, will not be able to take part in an OSCE conference on the election observation matters due to the visa ban for entering the European Union imposed on her.

“On 21-22 July, an OSCE Conference on election observation matter will take place in Vienna and the Head of the Commission’s Legal Department, Nadezhda Kiselyova, will represent Belarus at the conference. Conventionally, it is me who should take part in the conferences of the kind however it is impossible for a well-known reason, there is a ban for me entering Austria”, Yermoshina said on 16 July at a press-conference in Minsk.

Ms. Yermoshina also informed that OSCE observers were due to arrive to Belarus in August. On 29 July she would meet with the Head of the election observation mission of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Executive Secretary of the CIS, Sergey Lebedev. In addition to that, the CEC has also sent invitations to CECs of other member countries the CIS, Latvia and Lithuania to observe the Parliamentary Elections in Belarus this autumn.

For reference, the Head of the CEC of Belarus was banned from entering all the EU Member States and the USA following accusations in falsification of election campaigns taking place in Belarus since 1996.