Sergey Lebedev: "Instruments prepared by the IPA CIS could be a positive contribution to drafting common principles and rules of election observation in the OSCE"

In his speech, Sergey Lebedev emphasized a field of cooperation in which CIS and OSCE institutions engage directly, i. e. observing elections in the Commonwealth member states. In the last 3 years the CIS observer mission has monitored 16 election campaigns in 9 Commonwealth countries. This monitoring activity featured regular working meetings and contacts with leaders of the missions of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), an OSCE institution.

The Chairman of the CIS Executive Committee stressed the importance of these contacts. Yet, he underscored the obvious need to have common approach to election monitoring and unified election standards. He reminded that the CIS has extensive experience and solid legal framework in this field exemplified by the Convention on Standards of Democratic Elections, Voting Rights and Freedoms in Member Nations the Commonwealth, which has been effective for more than a decade, and Recommendations for international observers from the CIS adopted by the IPA CIS two years ago. Those recommendations include detailed standards of democratic elections, principles and procedures of international observation, in particular long-term and short-term, as well as of drafting final reports by the missions. According to the Chairman, these instruments could be a positive contribution to drafting common principles and rules of election observation in the OSCE.