Belarus refuses to invite OSCE observers to monitor this year’s parliamentary election

By YURAS KARMANAU
Associated Press

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Belarusian authorities have announced a decision not to invite observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to monitor elections that are scheduled for Feb. 25. The move is the latest authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko has undertaken in recent years to further cement his control over the country’s political institutions. The parliamentary vote of next month will be the first since the contentious 2020 presidential balloting that gave Lukashenko his sixth term in office and triggered an unprecedented wave of mass protests. It will take place amid continued repressions and as some 1,500 political prisoners remain behind bars, including the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner, rights advocate Ales Bialiatski.