Kazakh Election Commission Revokes Accreditation Of OSCE Observers
November 28, 2005
28 November 2005 -- Kazakhstan's Central Election Commission announced in Astana on 27 November that it has revoked the accreditation of four observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Interfax reported.
The four observers are from the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), which has been monitoring the Kazakh presidential election campaign. No explanation was given for the decision, although the move follows a similar withdrawal of the accreditation of the CIS Election Monitoring Organization on 18 November.
The ODIHR observer mission had encountered no such problems since beginning its mission in October with 40 long-term observers in the country. Another 400 short-term observers have already received official election-commission accreditation and are expected to arrive in Kazakhstan on 30 November, joining roughly 1,000 international observers in monitoring the 4 December presidential election.
Studying Appeal Meanwhile, Central Election Commission Chairman Onalsyn Zhumabekov said on 26 November that his commission is "studying" an appeal lodged by three of the five presidential candidates, Interfax reported.
The appeal, presented by the campaign offices of
Alikhan Baimenov,
Mels Eleusizov, and
Zharmakhan Tuyakbai, calls on the commission to ensure free and fair elections by adopting measures to provide voters with a choice of electronic voting or paper ballots and to strictly enforce the rights of voters, candidates, and observers during the presidential election. (Richard Giragosian)