CIS IPA to observe early presidential election in Kazakhstan

A delegation of the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (CIS IPA) will take part in observing the early presidential election in Kazakhstan, BelTA learned from the CIS IPA Council Secretariat.

The observation group will consist of MPs from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as well as representatives of the CIS IPA Council Secretariat and experts from the CIS IPA International Institute for Monitoring Democracy Development.

A total of 67 observers have been accredited by the Central Election Commission of Kazakhstan from the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly. Dilrabo Mansuri, deputy speaker of the lower chamber of Tajikistan's parliament, has been appointed to coordinate the group.

The observers will begin short-term monitoring of the elections on 18 November. On that day they plan to meet with the presidential candidates and their representatives. On 19 November, observers are scheduled to hold meetings at the Central Election Commission of Kazakhstan, the Parliament and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On 20 November, members of the observation group will monitor the voting process once the polling stations open.

On 21 November the coordinator of the group and CIS IPA Council Secretary General Dmitry Kobitsky will take part in the final press conference of the CIS observation mission.

The CIS IPA observers will monitor the presidential election in Astana, Almaty, Taldykorgan and also at foreign polling stations in cities of CIS countries: Baku (Azerbaijan), Yerevan (Armenia), Minsk (Belarus), Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Astrakhan, Kazan, Omsk (Russia), Dushanbe (Tajikistan), Tashkent (Uzbekistan), and also in Paris, Rome, Beijing, Seoul, Bucharest, Antalya, and Istanbul.