Despite some minor improvements, Belarus’ September 23-28 House of Representatives elections “ultimately fell short of OSCE commitments for democratic elections,” OSCE observers said in a statement issued on Monday.

"The clear signals to improve the election process were not implemented and substantial improvements are required if Belarus is to conduct genuinely democratic elections in line with our common OSCE commitments. Unfortunately the repeated signals of good will did not seem to have been correctly given or received. Consequently the significant progress we hoped for in the democratic development of Belarus did not materialize," said Anne-Marie Lizin, vice President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and special coordinator of the OSCE short-term observers.

Around 20.00 on 28 September a number of protestors gathered at October Square to express disagreement with the lack of transparency in the course of the elections. There were no detentions however, on 29 September the Ministry of Interior issued a statement that the actions of the opposition on 28 September were regarded as a severe violation of the mass order. The Interior Ministry will forward its materials in this regard to the Prosecutor's office for legal assessment.

Photos from polling stations and of the protest of the opposion by Julia Darashkevich.