Russia Faces Criticism Over Election Observers, Fires Back

By Brent Surgeoner
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Europe

VIENNA, Austria - The European Union and election monitoring group, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), have called on Russia to remove restrictions on poll monitors ahead of the upcoming presidential election on March 2.

As described by Reuters, the ODIHR is the “long-term election monitoring arm” of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).   

Due to restrictions on how many observers will be allowed into Russia and how long they will be there to monitor, ODIHR said it might not even send observers. 

The OSCE actually did not send observers to Russia for the parliamentary elections in December because it was only allowed to send 70 observers.  For the upcoming presidential election, Russia again is limiting OSCE to 70 observers, a significant reduction from the 400 who were allowed to monitor the 2004 presidential election.

The OSCE said restrictions will not allow it enough time in Russia to effectively monitor the fairness of either the election campaign or Russian media coverage, a concern since the media in Russia is predominately Kremlin-controlled.

In response to criticism over observer restrictions, Russian Central Elections Commission head Vladimir Churov, declared that the OSCE was showing a “lack of respect.”

“We have done everything to make the work of the mission easier, but we are not forcing anyone to come.  We have invited them, this has been done,” he said during an interview on Russian radio.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, President Vladimir Putin met with members of the Federal Security Service, where he declared that Russia would not allow outside countries to interfere with its presidential elections.

“Our country is a sovereign state and we will not allow the conduct of the election campaign to be corrected by anyone from outside,” he said.

In addition, he said it is the goal of the state to ensure that the elections are democratic and allow Russian citizens “to make a free and deliberate choice.”

For more information, please see:

Moscow News - Russian Elections Chief Slams OSCE - 31 January 2008

Reuters - EU urges Russia to remove limits on poll observers - 31 January 2008

BBC - OSCE lambasts Russia poll curbs - 30 January 2008

Yahoo News (AP) - Putin: No foreign meddling in election - 30 January 2008