MINSK, January 28. /TASS/. Western countries will not stop exerting pressure on Georgia and Belarus, and they must be countered by a joint effort, Temur Pipia, a representative of Georgia’s Solidarity for Peace party, who monitored the Belarusian presidential election, told TASS.
"As long as the West is what it is today, as long as their goal is to control all processes globally, they will certainly not stop putting pressure on Belarus, on Georgia, and on other sovereign countries," he said.
"This is why we need to further combine efforts to successfully resist their goals," the politician said.
In observing the election, Pipia saw in Belarus a prime example of "how to keep and develop one’s own chosen path." According to him, over the last two-three years, Georgia has seen increased prejudice from the West toward all processes in the country, including elections.
Earlier, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE ODIHR) refused to come to Belarus to observe the presidential election despite receiving an invitation. The European Parliament pre-emptively advised the EU not to recognize the results of the election. Igor Karpenko, chairman of Belarus’ Central Election Commission, said this was akin to direct interference in the electoral sovereignty of the nation and highlighted the political bias of the European Parliament’s members. On January 26, the main day of the voting, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko noted that nothing would happen in the country if the West chose not to recognize the results of the election.
According to the Belarusian Central Election Commission, Lukashenko won the presidential election, having received the support of 5,136,293 voters (86.82%). A total of 86 international observers from 52 countries were accredited to monitor the election. International observers, including the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SC0), have highly praised the organization of the election, recognizing the election as free, democratic and transparent.