Turnout makes about 80% at Belarus local legislative elections.

MINSK, April 26 (Itar-Tass) -- The turnout has made 79.1% at the local
legislative elections in Belarus on Sunday, according to the preliminary
results cited by the republican Central Elections Commission (CEC) on
Monday.
"The result is perfect," CEC secretary Nikolai Lozovik estimated the
turnout level. He noted that the turnout was particularly high in the
regions. For instance, the turnout was higher than 90% in the Vitebsk
Region, 85.7% in the Mogilev Region and 84.4% in the Gomel Region.
Analyzing the voting process Lozovik acknowledged that "there were
some shortcomings, flaws and some mistakes." However, "they did not affect
the election results," he pointed out.

.PACE session expected to be important for Russian interests.

STRASBOURG, April 26 (Itar-Tass) -- A spring session of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which is to open
here on Monday, is expected to be important for Russian interests, the
head of the Russian delegation in the PACE and the chairman of the State
Duma Committee for International Affairs, Konstantin Kosachev, believes.
At the middle of the previous week a PACE session was in doubt over
the disrupted air traffic in Europe due to an erupting volcano in Iceland.
"The PACE president had consultations with the leaders of political
groups, and they decided far from a consensus, but by a simple majority to
hold a PACE session all the same," Kosachev noted.
High on the agenda of the PACE session for Moscow will be Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's speech due on April 29. According to
Kosachev, the Russian foreign minister will focus on the post-war history
of Europe and will call for the counteraction to historical falsifications
for the sake of modern time-serving purposes.
The PACE session will also discuss a report on the massive famine in
the 1930s in the former Soviet republics on April 28. "A resolution on the
issue has been drafted by incumbent PACE President Mevlut Cavusoglu before
his election on this post. The draft resolution is generally balanced and
satisfies the Russian delegation. The resolution does not dwell on the
genocide of the Ukrainian people, but just states that this norm is
contained in the Ukrainian legislation," the deputy head of the Russian
delegation Leonid Slutsky said.
Alongside, Kosachev recalled that the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs
and Human Rights recommended to approve five amendments, one of which
offers to recognize the "Holodomor" famine as the genocide just against
the Ukrainian people, rather than the tragedy of the whole former Soviet
Union. "We will oppose strongly this amendment. These amendments
contradict the logic of the report. If the PACE has common sense, these
amendments will be turned down," Kosachev underlined.
The head of the Russian delegation also hopes for the support in the
issue from Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, who is to deliver a
speech at a PACE session on April 27, a day before the discussion on the
report. "I hope that Yanukovich will find it possible to confirm his
position that the famine tragedy is common for the whole Soviet people,
but not only for Ukraine," he pointed out.
The PACE intends once again to discuss the aftermaths of the conflict
in South Ossetia in August 2008 or as it is used to call in Strasbourg
"the war between Georgia and Russia." Kosachev specified that a report is
being prepared on the results of a visit of PACE rapporteurs Matyas Eorsi
(Hungary) and David Wilshire (Great Britain) to Tbilisi and Moscow, as
well as to Abkhazia (the rapporteurs could not enter South Ossetia from
Georgia due to the refusal of the republic's authorities).
"This positively distinguishes this report from the previous ones that
had been prepared in offices based on media publications," Kosachev said.
The Russian delegation head also confirmed that within the framework of
the discussion of the consequences of the "August war" the PACE will hear
Head of the EU Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the
Conflict in Georgia Heidi Tagliavini.
The PACE spring session will also discuss the aftermaths of the world
economic crisis, the struggle against extremism and piracy and an annual
report by Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas
Hammarberg.
The PACE session will end on April 30.
-0-baz


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