Advisory Board of Heads of Electoral Bodies to Be Formed in CIS

The CIS Advisory Board of the Heads of the Electoral Bodies will be established in the Commonwealth of Independent States. The decision was made at a meeting of the Council of CIS Heads of State, which was held in Astana on 14 October.

The meeting was attended by President of Azerbaijan Republic Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Japarov, President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov, Chairperson of the IPA CIS Council, Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Valentina Matvienko, Chair of the Executive Committee – CIS Executive Secretary Sergey Lebedev and Secretary General of the Council of the Interparliamentary Assembly of Member Nations of the CIS Dmitriy Kobitskiy.

The CIS Advisory Board of the Heads of the Electoral Bodies is established to exchange experience on issues of ensuring the electoral rights and freedoms of citizens, improving the legal conditions for elections and referendums in accordance with national legislation and international obligations of the Commonwealth.

The Board will consist of the heads of the central electoral authorities. Representatives of the CIS Executive Committee and the IPA CIS will take part in the meetings with the right of advisory vote.

All decisions on the issues under discussion, except for procedural ones, will be taken by consensus and will be advisory in nature. At the same time, each Member Nation will have one vote in the Board.

Photo: www.parlament.tj