OSCE to monitor presidential election

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has deployed an observation mission to monitor presidential elections in Kazakhstan on 4 December. The mission, comprising more than 40 observers, has been sent by the OSCE’s Warsaw-based Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). “We will base our assessment of the election on the commitments that all 55 OSCE participating states have agreed upon,” Ambassador Audrey Glover, head of the mission, said in the Kazakh commercial capital of Almaty on Tuesday. “These commitments apply to all OSCE states equally and we have arrived here with an open mind, ready to assess what I hope will be a democratic election, conducted on a level playing field.” According to ODIHR, a core team of 13 international election experts will be based at the mission’s offices in the capital Astana and Almaty, with an additional 30 long-term observers deployed throughout the country. The mission, drawn from 19 OSCE participating states, will closely observe and analyse all aspects of the electoral process, including candidate registration and campaigning, election administration, preparations for electronic voting, the media and the legal framework, as well as the complaints and appeals procedures, a statement from ODIHR said. For election day, Europe’s largest security and cooperation organisation has requested 400 short-term observers, who will be joined by a delegation from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. The observers will monitor voting, counting and tabulation of results, including the use of information technology. The observation mission is expected to issue a statement of preliminary findings and conclusions the day after the poll. “A comprehensive final report will be released about two months after the completion of the electoral process,” Glover added. Meanwhile, candidates have until next Monday (24 October) to register their candidacy for the country’s top job. As of Wednesday, 18 candidates – including incumbent President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has ruled the former Soviet republic since it gained independence in 1991 – had submitted their applications to the Central Election Commission (CEC). Two candidates have been registered so far - Nazarbayev and opposition leader Zharmakhan Tuyakbai, who is expected to challenge the veteran leader. The OSCE election assessment mission deployed to monitor presidential polls in January 1999 said that election process fell far short of OSCE standards.