OSCE Observer Mission completes its work in Kazakhstan
The parties summarized the work of the mission in Kazakhstan and discussed some aspects of the Statement of preliminary findings and conclusions announced by the OSCE mission on March 20, Kazinform learnt from the Foreign Ministry’s press service.
The Deputy Minister thanked the observers for their work and said that «Kazakhstan appreciates the international support of the OSCE in the sphere of democratic development of our country.»
Head of the OSCE Murphy noted that the elections «brought elements of competitiveness into the political arena by allowing self-nominated candidates to compete and increased choice for voters». He also thanked the Kazakh side for support and highly appreciated the stakeholders, political parties’ representatives and the civil society for their professionalism and responsiveness towards the mission.
The drafting of the final report of the OSCE on the observation of the parliamentary elections with the recommendations regarding the further improvement of the electoral process was a separate topic of negotiations. Vassilenko stressed the importance of objective approach when drafting the OSCE report.
The OSCE representatives also noted that the recommendations will be presented in the final report in a few months and expressed the hope that they will be used to further modernize Kazakhstan’s election system in accordance with the international standards, best practices and the commitments stated in the 1990 OSCE Copenhagen Document. After publishing the report the Office would like to send to Kazakhstan an expert group to discuss the document in detail with the CEC and other Kazakhstan’s stakeholders.
In conclusion of the meeting the parties exchanged views on the further development of constructive and fruitful cooperation between Kazakhstan and the Organization in the field of elections.