Kimmo Kiljunen, vice president at OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
Photo: Reuters
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State Duma Elections Weren’t Fair, International Observers Said
The State Duma elections weren’t fair, Reuters reported with reference to the joint statement of observers from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
The elections to the State Duma failed to meet many commitments and standards for democratic elections, the observation mission of parliamentarians from PASE and OSCE PA concluded in the joint statement.
The elections were well organized and manifested good technical improvement. At the same time, they were held in environment, which materially limited political competition, and the media coverage was clearly in favor of the ruling party.
Russia’s Central Election Commission bluntly rejected the accusations of international parliamentarians. “The conclusions were made based on ambitions statements of political parties’ leaders who weren’t satisfied with their personal election victories,” Igor Borisov from Central Election Commission told RIA Novosti.
Borisov said that, apart from the CIS observers, international observers presented no facts that would prove violation of election laws. The observers of CIS spotted certain deviations from required procedures at some polling stations, but those deviations didn’t prejudice the voting results.
www.kommersant.com
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