OSCE SHOULD CONTROL ELECTION AS FREE OBSERVER, MP SAYS
ARKA News Agency
Oct 26 2007
Armenia
YEREVAN, October 26. /ARKA/. The OSCE should control the
forthcoming presidential election as a free observer, said ARF
(Armenian Revolutionary Federation) Dashnaktsutiun Member, MP
Hrair Karapetian. "Observers from one country should not prevail
over others," he said. Karapetian pointed out that OSCE observers
should make judgments basing on concrete facts, and not on "what
they heard." For this, they should participate more actively in the
organizational activities in polling stations. "It is unreasonable
to ban the participation of foreign democratic missions in the
election," said Karapetian. Russia- EU (European Union) proposed
today during the summit in Lisbon to restrain the authority of the
OSCE during the presidential election in Armenia. Russia, Armenia,
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan approved
of the document, according to which the OSCE observers should observe
elections in all its member-countries. If the document is adopted
by the OSCE member-countries, 400-600 observers will be sent to the
CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) for extended monitoring and
about 50 observers for general monitoring. According to the document,
OSCE observers should avoid commenting on the election before the
official publication of the results. The CIS also proposes to transmit
conclusions of observers to the OSCE standing council for making a
final decision on the election. At the same time, any country mat put a
veto on the decision, which restrains the authority of observers. The
document will probably be on the agenda of the sitting of Foreign
Ministers of the OSCE member-countries.