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Lithuania presses ODIHR to bar Russian, Belarusian observers from presidential election

The first round of elections will take place on May 12

VIENNA, April 24. /TASS/. The Lithuanian leadership has demanded that the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) under the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) bar observers with Russian and Belarusian citizenship from monitoring the presidential election in the country, the ODIHR press service told TASS.

"Belarus and Russia," the press service said, commenting on the countries whose citizens Lithuania does not want to see monitoring the election.

The ODIHR said earlier that the organization would not monitor the Lithuanian presidential election because Vilnius demanded to exclude citizens of several ODIHR member states from overseeing the vote. At the time, the organization did not list the countries whose observers were not welcome. The ODIHR pointed out that these demands went against the commitments OSCE member states vowed to undertake.

Eight candidates approved by the Lithuanian election commission are vying for Lithuanian president. The first round of elections will take place on May 12. The favorites in the race, according to media and experts, are incumbent head of state Gitanas Nauseda and Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, who needed just one day to collect the necessary 20,000 signatures to be registered as a candidate.

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