Russian authorities should streamline the work of international observers at the March 4 presidential elections, Jean-Claude Mignon, the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), said on Tuesday.
Tiny Kox, head of the PACE observers, will lead the organization’s monitoring mission comprising 30 parliamentarians during presidential elections in Russia.
Mignon said he hopes proper working conditions will be created for the observers.
A report by PACE election observers said on Monday that Russia’s December 4 parliamentary elections were “slanted in favor of [ruling] United Russia.”
The report, presented by Kox, said the polls had been technically well-administered but “marked by a convergence of the state and the governing party, limited political competition and a lack of fairness.”
The elections also lacked “an impartial referee,” the report said.
The United Russia party headed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin won the December 4 parliamentary elections but critics claimed there was mass election fraud and ballot stuffing in favor of United Russia.
The authorities admitted that minor violations had occurred during the vote and pledged to investigate them but denied claims that the irregularities affected the vote’s results.
