Since 1997 the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR) has been carrying out specialized programs in support of human rights and mechanisms for their protection as well as promotion of democracy and respect for the rule of law in Belarus. The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights observed the process of preparation and carrying out of the presidential elections in Belarus in September 2001. We decided to do without the classical monitoring of elections, because a responsible monitoring to obtain an independent assessment of voting results the way it was done, for example, during the parliamentary elections in Slovakia in 1998 or the elections in Yugoslavia in 2000, was impossible under the existing electoral legislation in Belarus, which do not allow to hold an independent control of the election process. (fragment)