Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš on Friday called for the presidential election in Belarus to be rerun with independent monitoring, ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

Babis wrote that they had decided with Polish Prime Minister (Mateusz Morawiecki) to appeal to the European Council President, Charles Michel, to urgently hold a videoconference of council members regarding Belarus.

“I have spoken to Polish Prime Minister and we will propose (the EU council president Charles Michel) an urgent video call of the European Council members,” Babis said on Twitter.

“The election in Belarus must be repeated, must be transparent, and with the presence of foreign observers.”

Babis underlined that there was no time to waste and that the Belarusian people needed aid fast. He also stated that the presidential election had to be repeated, had to be clear and held in the presence of foreign observers.

Díval jsem se teď na vícero videí z Běloruska, kde zbabělá agresivní policie mlátí bezbranné lidi. Je to neuvěřitelné zvěrstvo. Pevně doufám, že jsou to poslední hodiny diktátorského režimu a že občané zvítězí.

— Andrej Babiš (@AndrejBabis) August 13, 2020

“We need additional sanctions against those who violated democratic values or abused human rights in #Belarus,” tweeted European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday. “I am confident today’s EU Foreign Ministers’ discussion will demonstrate our strong support for the rights of the people in Belarus to fundamental freedoms & democracy.”

“Undemocratic elections and unwarranted claims that Czechia is organizing protests,” Petříček commented on Twitter, adding that he emphasized to the Belarusian ambassador in Prague that Czechia rejects Lukashenko’s claims.

Protests against the alleged falsification of the results of Sunday’s presidential election have lasted for five days now. The police cracked down on those who took to the streets on the first day of protests.

At least two protesters have died and around 6,700 were detained this week.

According to official election results, Lukashenko, who has ruled the country since 1994 and is the first and only president of independent Belarus, won 80 percent of the vote. The opposition immediately called the results manipulated.

 

 

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Thousands of Belarusian demonstrators were met with a violent police response on Sunday night as they protested what they said was a fraudulent election, after long-serving incumbent Alexander Lukashenko claimed victory.

Czech Republic premier Andrej Babiš called the police repression of Belarusian demonstrators “a type of action that has no place in current Europe.”

“I condemn the police violence and the brutal assault on peaceful protesters in Minsk,” Babiš tweeted.

“These elections cannot be labeled as free and democratic,” the Czech Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček (CSSD) said separately.

Lukashenko’s hardline rule began in 1994 and his victory would extend it until 2025. He derided the opposition as “sheep” manipulated by foreign masters.

 

 

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