Belarus is holding its first nationwide election for the reason that begin of an enormous political crackdown three and a half years in the past, with the tightly-controlled vote happening on Sunday amid battle warnings from the nation’s chief.
Authorities in Minsk didn’t invite worldwide observers from the Group for Safety and Cooperation in Europe to observe the elections, a call the Vienna-based physique known as “deeply regrettable.” OSCE monitored Belarusian elections from 1995 till 2020, when its observers have been snubbed for the primary time.