The Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE PA), Ms Irini Charalambidou, is leaving tomorrow for Kazakhstan to lead a mission to monitor the early parliamentary elections to be held in the country on 19 March. Ms Charalambidou has been appointed by the OSCE Chairperson as Special Coordinator and Head of the short term OSCE observer mission.
The mission will include some 80 OSCE SC observers from 24 participating States who will be deployed in the capital Astana and other cities of Kazakhstan.
As part of her mission as Special Coordinator, Ms Charalambidou will be received by President Jomart Tokayev, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mukhtar Tileuberdi, and the President of the Senate Maulen Ashimbayev.
Ms. Charalambidou will also have separate meetings with the head of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights observer mission, the head of the OSCE field mission to Astana, representatives of the country's electoral authorities, candidates and political parties, as well as with civil society organizations.
In a statement on behalf of the OSCE CSO, Ms. Charalambidou said that "the elections follow the political turmoil and violent events that took place in the country in January 2022, the Constitutional referendum and early presidential elections in November 2022, as well as amendments to the legal framework, to which we will pay particular attention." He also noted that "the political environment in which the elections are being held is particularly interesting and the large number of international observers is a clear indication of the international community's support for Kazakhstan's democratic development."
(Text as sent by the House of Representatives)
Contents of this article including associated images are owned by PIO
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
Source
