Russia to invite OSCE to monitor presidential polls

Madrid, Nov 30 (RIA Novosti) Russia will invite the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which had earlier refused to attend the December parliamentary polls, to be present as observers during next year's presidential elections, the foreign ministry has said.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking in Madrid Thursday where he was attending a ministerial council session of the OSCE, said that he was not certain of the reaction of OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) to Moscow's invitation.

The presidential elections are scheduled March 2, 2008.

'I can't say what the ODIHR's reaction will be like, because it was really unpredictable,' Lavrov said.

He said the ODIHR chief in his recent interview had stated that the decision not to send monitors to the parliamentary elections was because of visa problems.

'This is, to put it in diplomatic terms, untrue, as the visas were ready,' Lavrov said.

He described the US position on the issue as 'unconstructive'.

After the ODIHR announced that it would not be attending Russia's parliamentary elections, President Vladimir Putin accused the US of pressuring the organization.

Washington hit back and accused Russia of trying to undermine OSCE's election monitoring work.

OSCE is recognized by western countries as the main authority on election monitoring and its approval is a key requisite to declaring elections free and fair. However, Russia has accused the organization of bias toward pro-Western opposition parties in the past.

The OSCE played a key role in unveiling alleged ballot rigging in the 2004 Ukrainian presidential elections, leading to an election re-run in which a pro-Western candidate, Viktor Yushchenko, defeated his pro-Kremlin rival Viktor Yanukovych.

(c) Indo-Asian News Service

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