A/HRC/35/40 promoted the plan as a cornerstone of its human rights policy. The Special Rapporteur deems it therefore important to provide a general review of the plan in section III below and make detailed references to it in consecutive sections. 8. The parliamentary elections of 11 September 2016 were held without police violence and without the arrest of political opponents, unlike the presidential election of 2010. The Special Rapporteur underlines, however, the findings of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in its report on the conduct of the elections of 2016.2 In the report, OSCE observed that, despite some marginal improvements, a large number of recommendations it had made on the occasion of previous elections had been ignored by the Government. 9. The allowance granted to two opposition candidates to enter parliament does not reflect any governmental opening to pluralism. The absence of the full enjoyment of any freedom conducive to free and fair elections made it impossible for a real opposition to be represented in parliament, the only one in Europe that has been without a proper opposition for decades. 10. The presidential election of 2015 and the parliamentary elections of 2016 provided opportunities for the Government to show goodwill and tangible improvements in the field of human rights. Alas, the latest elections were a reflection of an untouched, sophisticated system of oppression of basic rights, as before, during and after the elections, the freedoms of association, of expression, of peaceful assembly and of the media remained strictly limited to the sole benefit of the incumbent in power. 11. Even before the massive crackdown of March 2017, the Special Rapporteur had received reports of continuing harassment of social activists, human rights defenders and political opponents. The “permission-based” regime remains unchanged, with a legal system and a State apparatus organized to suppress any expression of opinions other than those of the Government. For more than 20 years, the Belarusian governance system has remained based on an all-powerful State, driven by presidential decrees and controlling more than 80 per cent of the economy and the totality of the judicial and information systems. 12. The administration provides for satisfactory statistical data on certain development indicators, which were used to measure the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, such as life expectancy, school enrolment of children, literacy and other important fields that contribute to the enjoyment of certain rights. However, as the United Nations has adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, the Special Rapporteur deems it of paramount importance to assess sustainable development in Belarus in the light of the enjoyment of human rights. 13. The use of capital punishment has resumed. In 2016, four executions were conducted, of which three concerned cases which were pending before the Human Rights Committee, and four new death sentences were handed down. The Special Rapporteur recalls that no other country in Europe or Central Asia applies the death penalty. As a result, Belarus remains banned from membership of the Council of Europe. 14. Belarus has still to establish a national human rights institution, in accordance with the Principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles), despite repeated calls to do so by various human rights mechanisms. The Special Rapporteur deplores the absence of progress in this regard, as in many other areas. 15. The Special Rapporteur believes that international scrutiny should continue to be exercised, as it remains a crucial assistance to the citizens and the Government of Belarus. An acknowledgment of the compliance of the Government with its international obligations should be informed by human rights indicators rather than vague commitments or geopolitical considerations. 2 4 See www.osce.org/odihr/elections/287486?download=true.