MINSK, January 27. /TASS/. The presidential election in Belarus was held in line with the republic’s laws and its international obligations, said Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Nurlan Yermekbayev, who led a SCO monitoring mission at the election.
"The central goal and task of our mission was to assess whether preparations for the election and the voting process were in line with, primarily, national legislation and international obligations," he told reporters following a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. "In this light, the SCO monitoring mission believes that the election was legitimate as it was in accordance with all these norms and commitments," news agency BelTA quoted the SCO chief as saying.
Also, Yermekbayev congratulated Lukashenko on winning the presidential election as he highlighted how open Belarus has been to foreign observers. "Let me congratulate you on behalf our mission of SCO observers on your convincing win. We have already familiarized ourselves with results from the Belarusian Central Election Commission," he said. "On our part, we view the invitation to monitor the election as a sign that Belarus is open to external monitoring and as a sign of trust and respect toward the Shanghai Cooperation Organization," he stressed.