Baltic States – CIS, Belarus, Cooperation, Democracy , EU – CIS, Latvia

At the same time, the Foreign Ministry calls on the Belarusian government to continue work on bringing the electoral legislation in line with international standards and on further democratic and economic reforms, thereby facilitating the reinforcement of Belarusian statehood and socio-economic stability in the country.

Latvia is prepared to share its reform experience, including in organizing of free, democratic and transparent elections. Concrete and tangible improvements to elections will provide a positive impetus to the future development of the EU-Belarus relations.

The AFP news agency writes that two opposition candidates have been elected to parliament in ex-Soviet Belarus, the first time since 2008 that critics of strongman president Alexander Lukashenko have made it into the rubber-stamp legislature.

The election of the tiny opposition contingent comes as Lukashenko, once dubbed by the US as Europe's last dictator, tries to burnish his image further with the West after the EU dropped sanctions against Belarus earlier this year.

Anna Kanapatskaya of the opposition United Civil Party and Alena Anisim of the Belarusian Language Society both won spots in Sunday's nationwide vote, the country's election commission said.

The rest of the 110 deputies, whose victories were announced by the commission late Sunday, are considered close to the authorities.

"The victory by Anna Kanapatskaya is symbolic, it shows that when the vote count is honest, the opposition can win," said United Civil Party leader Anatoly Lebedko, a key opposition figure who spent several months in jail after standing in presidential elections in 2010.

The opposition fielded some 200 candidates in Sunday's polls. Critics insisted that despite the minute headway they had made, a vote held under Lukashenko's total domination could never be fair.

After authorities freed some prominent political prisoners, the European Union in February lifted the bulk of economic sanctions imposed in 2011 over Lukashenko's brutal crackdown on opponents. Lukashenko was re-elected by a landslide in 2015 for a fifth term.