MOSCOW, November 21./TASS/. Russia gives high marks to the parliamentary election in Belarus, held on November 17 in compliance with all international rules, and deems as biased conclusions of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) that reported voting violations, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a commentary on Thursday.
"The Russian side welcomes successful holding of the parliamentary election in Belarus held with full respect for international democratic standards," the ministry said. "We see assessments of the mission led by ODIHR as biased and politicized," the foreign ministry stressed.
Moscow noted that observers from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia agreed that the election had been organized at a high level and in conformity with all international rules. Meanwhile the mission led by the ODIHR with the participation of parliamentarians from the parliamentary assemblies of the Council of Europe and the European security agency reported alleged complete disregard for the freedom of assembly, association and expression.
Meanwhile, the principles of ODIHR activity had been worked out behind the scenes and were not approved by the OSCE, the Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out.
"It seems as if these missions worked in different countries and definitely followed different rules and methodology," the diplomats concluded.
Elections to the Belarusian parliament’s lower house were held on Sunday in all constituencies, all 110 members of the legislative body were elected. Voter turnout was 77.22%, exceeding the 2016 ballot by 3%. None of the opposition was able to gain any seats in the legislature. Monitors from the OSCE and PACE argued that the parliamentary elections in Belarus were neither transparent nor democratic.