IPA CIS Observers at Election of President of Russian Federation

On 15 March, the IPA CIS observers started short-term monitoring in Moscow and other regions of Russia, as well as at foreign polling stations.The monitoring group includes observers from 22 states: MPs from the Commonwealth Member Nations, as well as experts of the International Institute for Monitoring Democracy Development, Parliamentarianism and Suffrage Protection of Citizens of IPA CIS Member Nations(IPA CIS IIMDD) from Moldova, Turkmenistan, Laos, Egypt, Vietnam, China, Iran, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Palestine, Syria, Sudan, Turkey and other states.

The IPA CIS monitoring group visited the Situation Center of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation for the presidential election observation. The goal of the center is to stay connected with regional public headquarters, to observe the electoral process, to receive and verify reports on possible violations and problems.

Chairperson of the Commission of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation on Public Control and Work with Appeals of Citizens Alena Bulgakova and Head of the Working Group of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation on Public Control of Voting Maxim Grigoriev met with the observers.

Coordinator of the IPA CIS monitoring group, Chair of the Standing Commission of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus for Regional Policy and Local Self-Government Mikhail Rusy told about the goals and tasks of the monitoring in a live broadcast. He noted that the IPA CIS observers were conducting a fair and objective analysis.

The observers visited the Center of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation and discussed the course of the election campaign with its leadership. They also started meetings with candidates for President of Russia.

On 16 March, the IPA CIS monitoring group held an organizational meeting. It was opened by Mikhail Rusy.

Secretary General of the IPA CIS Council Dmitriy Kobitskiy took part in the meeting. He reminded that the observers from the IPA CIS take part in the election monitoring at the invitation of Speaker of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Volodin.

Deputy Head of the IPA CIS Council Secretariat– Director of the IPA CIS IIMDD Ivan Mushket told the main stages of long-term monitoring. He also presented the conclusions of the Institute’s experts on the electoral legislation of the Russian Federation and its compliance with international standards for democratic elections.

The IPA CIS monitoring group also met with Vyacheslav Volodin. He noted that only through the parliamentary line 475 international observers from 89 countries came to the presidential elections. Among them were three heads of parliaments and representatives of six international parliamentary organizations.

The IPA CIS international observers and Dmitriy Kobitskiy discussed the preparation and conduct of the presidential elections with the Deputy Speaker of the Federal Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Konstantin Kosachev. He stressed that IPA CIS monitoring group was traditionally the most representative. During the meeting were also discussed directions of cooperation in joint projects. In particular, it was the “Memory Train” project, in which school students from the CIS Member Nations take part.

On 17 March, Mikhail Rusy started observation at polling station. Hecertified that all necessary procedures had been carried out and noted that the voting took place within the framework of the legislation of the Russian Federation and it complied with the standards of democratic elections.

The IPA CIS international observers also conduct monitoring at foreign polling stations in Baku (the Republic of Azerbaijan), Yerevan (the Republic of Armenia), Minsk (the Republic of Belarus), Almaty (the Republic of Kazakhstan), Bishkek (the Kyrgyz Republic), Kishinev (the Republic of Moldova), Tashkent (the Republic of Uzbekistan), Vientiane (the Lao People’s Democratic Republic), Da Nang and Hanoi (the Socialist Republic of Vietnam).

All data from the polling stations obtained during the monitoring will be included in the final conclusion of the IPA CIS monitoring group.