Government Chief Whip Ottiwell Simmons has disputed international claims that a controversial eastern European election was severely flawed.

Former trade unionist Mr. Simmons travelled to Belarus last week to act as an official observer of the country?s presidential election. He told that he witnessed democratic voting and was satisfied that the election was fair and unbiased.

Both the US and EU have condemned the election on March 19, which saw President Alexander Lukashenko win 82.6 percent of the vote and a third term in office.

And the OSCE, Europe?s main election monitoring body, said there had been harassment and detention of opposition activists, biased media coverage and obstruction of independent monitors. A rival observer mission, from the Russian-led Commonwealth of Independent States, said the election was open and transparent.

Protests by thousands of opposition supporters have been held in the capital, Minsk, leading to the arrest and detention of more than 150 people, including election runner-up Alexander Kozulin, who claims to have been beaten by Police.

Mr. Simmons, who returned from his trip with fellow Bermudian and PLP member Michael Markham on Tuesday night, said: ?When the balloting was over all of us shook hands and were satisfied that the voting was fair, it was democratic and it was without bias.?

He said he visited about 12 polling booths and spoke to vote counters and saw fair procedures in each case.

?My duty was to ensure that the elections were carried out in accordance with the rules laid down and that the rules were democratic rules which gave each candidate and each voter a fair and democratic choice to make,? he said. ?That is, for the candidates to represent any party or independent philosophy and for the voters to freely vote for a candidate of their choice to be president of Belarus.?

Mr. Simmons, who was invited to attend by an organisation called the Spiritual Development Group, said he was disappointed that the ?western Press? took a different view of the election.

?None of them have done the observing that I have done,? he said. ?The western Press says there was corruption. I saw none.?

In early 2005, Belarus was listed by the US as Europe?s only remaining outpost of tyranny. Mr. Lukashenko is often referred to as Europe?s last dictator.

But Mr. Simmons said he was impressed with the country, its Government and Police, whom he described as ?polite?.

?Belarus is a place that you can almost see developing. It?s certainly not a Third World country from an infrastructure point of view.

?I?m made to understand that it?s economy is growing and they have no unemployment. The people were not quite Bermudian friendly but they were certainly not uncouth.?

He said Europe and America had not been the ?best friend of Belarus? but that officials in the country were reaching out to the West and did not want conflict.

Mr. Markham said the election was ?very well done and well organised?. ?We actually met, in various polling booths, observers from the various political parties, he said. ?We talked to them and we observed the counting of the votes. It was very fair and open. In terms of certifying a vote, that was conducted properly.?

But he added: ?What we didn?t certify and what apparently the issue is is whether the democratic process is up to the same standard in Belarus as it is in western countries. That?s a political issue more than whether the votes were cast fairly.?

He said he and Mr. Simmons had witnessed demonstrations about the election in the centre of Minsk.

And he added: ?Mr. Simmons also had a short dialogue with the President Alexander Lukashenko, where he sent greetings from Bermuda. The President complimented Mr. Simmons in front of the international press for his accurate and astute observation of the elections.?