Belarus tells West: recognise vote, or no talks

Belarus will cease all dialogue with Western countries if they fail to recognise the ex-Soviet state's parliamentary election, President Alexander Lukashenko said yesterday.

Lukashenko has staked his hopes on the September 28 vote as a way to improve ties with the United States and European Union, which see it as a test of Belarus's democratic credentials.

No poll in Belarus since the mid-1990s has been judged free and fair in the West. Most opposition hopefuls have been allowed on the ballot this time and hundreds of Western observers are attending. But opposition officials say they have been denied access to commissions overseeing the count and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) says the campaign has failed to give voters a clear idea of issues or candidates.

"If even this time the election turns out to be undemocratic, we will cease all discussions with them," Lukashenko, quoted by local news agencies, told reporters at a harvest festival in eastern Belarus.

"Let's just see how they react. We have blatantly broken our own laws to hold an election the way it is understood by the West and the OSCE. This election is unprecedented, run according to the West's rules."

An interim report issued on Friday by the OSCE, Europe's biggest rights and security body, said there was little evidence of full-fledged campaigning. State media, it said, offered few opportunities for debate, with most airtime devoted to praise for the authorities.

No campaign posters enliven the streets of Minsk, only a handful of leaflets have been distributed and few candidate meetings have been held. State television has generally limited coverage to five-minute candidate spots as required by law.