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Intervew of Nicola Zichella to OSCE on date 15 february 2008,

How important is OSCE on monitoring regular political elections in one

country?

The OSCE is the leading international body observing elections in

Europe. We look at all aspects of an election process: candidate

registration, the media situation, legal framework, the campaign, and of

course election day proceedings and the tabulation of results. The

assessments made by the OSCE based on its observation missions identify

shortcomings and make recommendations on how to address them. They are

valuable tools for improving election frameworks in line with

international standards and commitments.

Russia on march will have presidential elections why osce supervisors

will not be in Russia?

In a departure from previous practice and established procedures, the

Russian authorities imposed severe restrictions on the ODIHR observation

team for the upcoming presidential elections, including limitations on

the number of observers and the duration of the mission. These

unprecedented restrictions would not have allowed us to conduct a

credible observation in line with our mandate, which tasks the ODIHR to

observe the entire election process before, during and after election

day. We therefore had no other choice than to decide not to deploy an

observation mission. We regret this outcome, but we expect to continue

the dialogue with the Russian authorities in view of future elections,

and we are confident that we will again see the kind of transparency and

openness that characterised the Russian approach to international

observation of its elections in the past.

How will the world judge the fact that OSCE supervisors will not be in

Russia?

The absence of OSCE observers will leave a considerable gap given the

OSCE’s long experience in monitoring elections and capacity to deploy

large-scale observation missions based on a well-developed methodology.

The presence of OSCE observers would have served to enhance transparency

in this election, which should be a key element in every democratic

electoral process. Shutting out international observers only serves to

raise suspicions and undermine public confidence in the election

process.

Jens-Hagen Eschenbächer

Spokesperson

OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)

Al. Ujazdowskie 19

00-557 Warsaw

Mobile: +48 603 683 122