2001 press releases

OSCE/ODIHR and Russian Central Election Commission to Cooperate in Observing Belarus Elections (July 24, 2001)

Warsaw, 24 July 2001 – Ambassador Gérard Stoudmann, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), met today in Warsaw with Mr. Alexander Veshnyakov, Chairman of the Russian Federation Central Election Commission, and Mr. Zoltan Toth, Secretary General of the Association of Central and Eastern European Election Officials (ACEEEO), for consultations focusing in particular on observation of the presidential elections in Belarus in September.

Agreement was reached that Russian Federation Central Election Commission observers will be deployed within the framework of the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission to Belarus. The OSCE/ODIHR mission will closely co-ordinate its activities with an observation mission to be deployed by the ACEEEO, which has already received and accepted an invitation to observe. The ACEEEO has already completed its first mission to Belarus and has shared its report with the ODIHR, which concurs with its conclusions and recommendations.
 
Pending an invitation from the Government of Belarus, the ODIHR will establish an Election Observation Mission based in Minsk by the beginning of August.