Lithuania won't allow OSCE observers to vote in presidential election: reason given

In late April, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe announced that it would not observe the elections in Lithuania. The OSCE said that the country demanded that delegations from some countries be excluded from the list of observers, but the organization could not accept such a condition.

The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed this information, Delfi writes, adding that the ministry officially invited the OSCE to observe the elections. But without the participation of Belarusians and Russians.

"Lithuania, in compliance with its international obligations, invited representatives of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and OSCE countries, except the aggressor Russia and its ally Belarus, to observe the elections," the country's Foreign Ministry said.

They rightly noted that inviting representatives of Belarus and Russia to the elections would be "a mockery of democracy."

"The international isolation of the criminal regimes of Russia and Belarus is a consistent and principled direction of Lithuania's foreign and domestic policy, which we intend to continue," the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry added.

The presidential election in Lithuania will be held on May 12. Eight candidates are running in the election campaign, including current President Gitanas Nausėda, who is running for a second term, and Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonite.

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