The interim report of the election observation mission of the Office for Democratic Standards and Human Rights said that the election campaign in Belarus was almost invisible. Belarusian CEC head Yarmoshyna expressed some frustration with how international observers from the OSCE assessed the campaign progress, and noted that the report “inspires little optimism”. Nevertheless, the authorities expect that the final report will mark “progress” in the election campaign thanks to some political liberalization and suspension of repressions against the opposition. Meanwhile, the Belarusian authorities do not intend to make concessions to the requests by domestic and international observers regarding the transparency of vote counting on the election day.
