New York Times - 09.10.2001

 

New York Times

International Monitors Denounce Election in Belarus as Unfair

MINSK, Belarus (AP) -- A triumphant President Alexander Lukashenko said Monday that his defiance of the West led to his re-election in this ostracized former Soviet republic, even as European monitors pronounced the voting unfair.

The authoritarian leader accused Western governments of mistaken judgment about his country, and insisted he would continue his Soviet-style economic course -- a path that has left Belarus far poorer than its Eastern European neighbors.

``The West made a mistake concerning the processes in Belarus. It pushed itself into a corner,'' Lukashenko told a news conference in Minsk. He said the voting was clean.

After a tense campaign and rainy election day Sunday, the Central Election Commission said Lukashenko had a sweeping 75.6 percent of the vote, according to a preliminary count. It said 83.9 percent of voters had turned out.

Europe's top vote-monitoring organizations said the election was unfair, setting the stage for a new confrontation with Lukashenko. His chief challenger, Vladimir Goncharik, demanded a second round of voting, citing rampant alleged violations.

Goncharik took 15.4 percent of the vote and centrist politician Sergei Gaidukevich had 2.5 percent, election commission chair Lidia Yermoshina told a news conference Monday. She said the final official results would be released in three days.

``Unfortunately, these presidential elections did not meet international standards for free, democratic elections,'' said Kimmo Kiljunen, coordinator of the joint European monitoring mission.

``Maybe the election process was somewhat free, but clearly it was not fair,'' Kiljunen said.

The mood among Goncharik's supporters was deflated and desperate Monday, as a few hundred protesters gathered in a square in front of the election headquarters under gray skies.

``No one expected a miracle. But no one expected such a brazen, illogical pressure on opposition members and campaign observers,'' said protester Sergei Nekhamkin, a longtime opposition activist.

Lukashenko is pilloried in the West for his crackdown on independent media and political opponents, and critics fear he will further isolate this nation of 10 million. Yet he remains popular at home for standing up to the West, trying to retain the social safety net and achieving some stability after the chaos accompanied the 1991 Soviet collapse.

On Monday, Lukashenko said now that he's won, he's ready to cooperate with the United States and other Western countries -- but on his terms.

He reminded Europeans that his country is a key transit point for Russian oil and gas and other resources on which Europe relies.

``Let's build our relations in such a way that Belarus remains an island of stability and can guarantee the movement of those resources to flourishing Europe,'' he said at the news conference.

He warned NATO to stop ``saber-rattling'' and expanding around Belarus. Neighboring Poland is already a member and neighboring Lithuania is heading there, leaving Belarus as a buffer state between the Western alliance and a Russia hostile to its expansion.

The U.S. government, which has accused Lukashenko of obstructing the electoral process, had no immediate reaction to his victory.

Sunday marked Lukashenko's first electoral test since 1996, when he pushed through a referendum that extended his five-year term by two years, a vote the United States and others refused to acknowledge.

The European monitors called for the international community to reassess its approach to Belarus so that democratic forces could flourish.

Lukashenko's policies have unnerved Central and Eastern European nations that are trying to shed their communist pasts and strengthen their ties with the West.

Lukashenko, in contrast, has pushed for a full merger with Russia, instead of the loose union that exists now. Russia is more cautious about the plan.