MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) will increase the number of its observers tasked with monitoring elections to Russia’s lower house of parliament to more than double the number of monitors it sent in 2011, a German newspaper reported on Friday, citing the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.
According to Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, the current election observation mission will consists of 466 observers, compared to 215 specialists in 2011.
In 2012, 216 OSCE observers were deployed to monitor the Russian presidential election.
On September 18, Russian nationals will elect the Russian parliament's lower chamber of 450 seats. Half of the lawmakers will be elected from the party lists, while another 225 seats are contested in single-member constituency races.