Editing Elections in Belarus (section)

===2004 parliamentary elections===
{{main|2004 Belarusian parliamentary election}}

In Belarus, while there are [[political party|political parties]] that either support or oppose President Lukashenko, the majority of the seats in the National Assembly are filled by those not affiliated with any political parties ("non-partisans"). However, there are three political parties who hold seats in the House of Representatives: the [[Communist Party of Belarus]] (8 seats), the [[Agrarian Party of Belarus]] (3 seats), and the [[Liberal Democratic Party of Belarus]] (1 seat). The other two parties that pledged their support to Lukashenko, the [[Belarusian Socialist Sporting Party]] and the [[Republican Party of Labour and Justice]], did not secure any seats in the October 2004 election. Opposition parties, such as the [[Belarusian People's Front]] and the [[United Civil Party of Belarus]] did not gain any seats. The UCPB and the BPF are some of the parties that comprise the [[People's Coalition 5 Plus]], a group of political parties who oppose Lukashenko. Several organizations, including as the OSCE, declared the election un-free due to opposition parties negative results and the bias of the Belarusian media in favor of the government.<ref name="OSCE">{{cite web| url=http://www.osce.org/documents/odihr/2004/12/3951_en.pdf| title=OSCE Report on the October 2004 parliamentary elections|date=December 2004| access-date=2006-03-26|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060108064649/http://www.osce.org/documents/odihr/2004/12/3951_en.pdf |archive-date = January 8, 2006|url-status=dead}} - 404 error as of last access date</ref> However, in constitutional as well as political terms, the House is of marginal importance. At the 2000 election, it took four rounds of voting before all the seats were filled; in the end, 86% of the elected deputies were independents, and the remainder were the representatives of parties traditionally loyal to the president (OSCE, 2000).

The 13–17 October 2004 elections, according to the [[Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe|OSCE]]/ODIHR Election Observation Mission,<ref>[http://www.osce.org/documents/odihr/2004/12/3951_en.pdf] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060108064649/http://www.osce.org/documents/odihr/2004/12/3951_en.pdf|date=January 8, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sussexineurope.org/news_1.htm#Belarus|title=News from central and eastern Europe - Sussex in Europe|website=Sussexineurope.org|access-date=9 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190210044533/http://www.sussexineurope.org/news_1.htm#Belarus|archive-date=10 February 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref>  fell significantly short of OSCE commitments. Universal principles and constitutionally guaranteed rights of expression, association and assembly were seriously challenged, calling into question the Belarusian authorities’ willingness to respect the concept of political competition on a basis of equal treatment. According to this mission principles of an inclusive democratic process, whereby citizens have the right to seek political office without discrimination, candidates to present their views without obstruction, and voters to learn about them and discuss them freely, were largely ignored. A [[Council of Europe]] report describes the danger that politicians risk of being assassinated, summarising an investigation into allegations that the present head of the [[Belarus]]ian Special Rapid Reaction Unit ([[SOBR]]), [[Dmitri Pavlichenko]], assassinated two senior politicians, a businessman and a journalist in 1999.<ref name="COE_pavlichenko">{{cite web| last =Pourgourides| first =Christos| author2 =Committee on Legal Affairs| author3 =Human Rights| author4 =Council of Europe| author4-link =Council of Europe| title =Disappeared persons in Belarus| publisher =[[Council of Europe]]| date =February 2004| url =http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc04/EDOC10062.htm| access-date =2007-09-18| url-status =dead| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20090221075513/http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=%2FDocuments%2FWorkingDocs%2FDoc04%2FEDOC10062.htm| archive-date =2009-02-21}}</ref>