The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) may refuse to monitor Russian presidential polls due to restrictions on time and number of observers, the RIA Novosti news agency reported Thursday.
According to the report, in an interview with the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets, Curtis Budden, a spokesman for the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the OSCE, said conditions set by Russia's Central Electoral Commission (CEC),meant that his organization would be unable to perform its functions fully.
Budden said the invitation the OSCE had received for the presidential polls "has serious restrictions both in terms of the number of observers and time they are allowed to observe."
Vladimir Churov, head of the CEC, said Monday that 70 ODIHR observers had been invited to monitor the presidential elections.
Moscow gave permission for monitors to enter the country on Feb. 28, which would not give them enough time to make adequate preparation for observing the March 2 elections, Budden said.
The ODIHR refused to monitor Russia's parliamentary election on Dec. 2 last year due to visa delays and restrictions. The OSCE subsequently declared the polls not free and fair.
The ODIHR asked Russia Tuesday to reconsider its quotas for the number of observers as well as the observers' mandates.
A Russian election official said the CEC was studying the OSCE's request, and the election body's deputy chairman, Stanislav Vavilov, said a reply would be provided soon.
Source: Xinhua
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