The contacts of the Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Ms Irene Charalambidou, who is in Kazakhstan in her capacity as OSCE Special Coordinator for the monitoring mission of the parliamentary elections, continued yesterday in Astana.
Yesterday, on election day, Ms Charalambidou visited a number of polling stations in Astana for on-site monitoring of the electoral process.
Today, at a joint press conference with the Head of the OSCE CSO delegation and the Head of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) mission, Ms Charalambidou observed that there has been an improvement in the recently developed legal framework. She underlined that democracy is a dynamic process and expressed hope that further reforms will be carried out in line with the stated positions and political will as expressed by the Government of Kazakhstan.
Referring to the Preliminary Conclusions text co-authored by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and the OSCE JC, Ms. Charalambidou noted that the early parliamentary elections were held in the context of reforms aimed at enhancing compliance with international standards and OSCE commitments. She noted that a number of amendments to the electoral legislation had resulted in increased voter choice while underlining that further changes to the legislative framework were necessary. He indicated in particular that restrictions on the exercise of constitutionally guaranteed rights remained. He pointed out that while there were elements of competition between candidates, the existence of several administrative obstacles had a negative impact on the competitiveness of the electoral campaign. In this context, he also noted that while candidates were able to campaign freely in general, the limited media criticism had a negative impact on the ability of voters to receive comprehensive information.
With regard to Election Day, Ms. Charalambidou noted that while the conduct of the elections was well organized and ran smoothly, it was observed that important safeguards were often overlooked during the counting and announcement of results, undermining the transparency of the whole process.
In addition, Ms. Charalambidou was received yesterday by the President of the Senate, Mr. Maulen Ashimbayev. During the meeting, Mr Ashimbayev expressed support for the package of reforms promoted by the President, which he said is aimed at further democratising the country and strengthening the system of checks and balances to ensure stability in an extremely difficult international environment. He expressed support for the work carried out by the OSCE and noted the important role it can play on the international scene.
Ms. Charalambidou said that the OSCE CSO was represented at the highest level and noted that the wide participation of observers was indicative of the interest of the participating States in the electoral processes in Kazakhstan.
Finally, views were exchanged on current international developments.
(Text as sent by the House of Representatives)
(MH/SH)
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