"Tourism under the guise of election observation." The head of the CIS observer mission will be the same one who recognized the election results in 2020
The observer mission from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which will monitor the electoral campaign at the invitation of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, is headed by Secretary General Sergei Lebedev. In 2020, Sergei Lebedev stated that the presidential elections in Belarus were held in an organized manner and by the law. Viasna human rights activist Pavel Sapelka comments on his appointment.
Sergei Lebedev was also the head of the observer mission in Belarus in 2010, 2016, 2019, 2020, and 2024. The CIS recognized the results of all elections. In 2020, Sergei Lebedev stated that the presidential elections in Belarus were held in an organized manner and by the law. He also said that the CIS observer mission had not revealed any facts that cast doubt on the legitimacy of the elections in Belarus. He declared the elections "were open, competitive, and honored the will of the citizens."
Viasna human rights activist Pavel Sapelka commented on the traditional appointment of Lebedev as head of the CIS observer mission:
"Tourism under the guise of election observation is a common phenomenon in the post-Soviet space. Observers from the CIS and similar institutions are political appointees loyal to the government in their countries. On January 26, the "international observer" from the CIS and the SCO will witness only one thing: a seemingly impeccable order at the polling stations. 'We saw an atmosphere of celebration and good mood.' This is how the head of the CIS observer mission, Sergei Lebedev, described the preliminary elections of deputies on a single voting day in February 2024. For guests from authoritarian states, this picture will be practically no different from their own pseudo-elections. One can only assume that after Aliaksandr Lukashenka's resounding loss of the previous elections, guests from the East will be keenly interested in whether the dictator has retained influence on the executive vertical of power, the loyalty of supporters, and the potential to manage them for the next five years."
Meanwhile, as of December 2, 2024, 892 national observers have already been accredited. Of these, there are only 112 people under the age of 31 and 661 women. Most of all, these are representatives of pro-government public associations — as many as 646 people from Belaya Rus, the BRSM, trade unions, the Belarusian Union of Women, and others.
"Most likely, there will be a place for 'observers' from Europe: 23 of them were accredited in the elections in February this year. These were marginal politicians, deputies, public figures from Bulgaria, Germany, Spain, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Serbia, France, Sweden, Switzerland, as well as from Iran and Lebanon. Actually, even the Central Electoral Commission does not hide: 'They do not represent any international organizations and international missions and act solely as independent experts.'"