Issue No. 311 - March 7, 2003
Contents:
1. Belarus: BACK IN VIENNA
by Paulyuk Bykowski
2. Bulgaria: NATIONAL SECURITY WITHOUT RESPECT
by Peter Karaboev
3. Russia/Chechnya: CHECHNYA IN THE RUSSIAN PRESS
4. Special Addition: M E M O R A N D U M ON FAIR ELECTIONS
IN ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN AND GEORGIA
_________________________________________________
Belarus: BACK IN VIENNA
by Paulyuk Bykowski
Membership in the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (PA
OSCE) has been restored to Belarus. With that decision, made on February
20, the PA also confirmed the legitimacy of the National Assembly of the
Republic of Belarus.
The question of Belarusian
representation had been open since January 9, 2001, when the five-year
term of the Belarusian 13th Supreme Council ended. The Council was dissolved
in 1996. At that time, the PA did not recognize the new legislative body,
the National Assembly formed by Alexander Lukashenko, but instead invited
members of the 13th Supreme Council who refused to recognize the constitutional
referendum of 1996 to serve as Belarusian representatives. They did not
have voting rights, however, since Belarus did not pay its dues for those
years.
In 2001, when there was
no official Belarusian representative, the PA invited two delegations,
one from the National Assembly and one from the Consultative Council Opposition
Parties, but they too lacked participatory rights.
When the 13th Supreme Council
term ended, recognition of the new Belarusian parliament became a crucial
issue, all the more so since the 2nd National Assembly was not appointed
by the president, but voted into office, in elections the PA did not find
fair or free.
On the day the winter session
of the PA opened, the delegations from Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Kazakhstan,
Germany, Great Britain and Canada pressed for the restoration of the Belarusian
membership in the Assembly. The United States suggested putting the issue
off until the next session and Switzerland did not want to consider it
at all. Twenty delegations voted to restore Belarus’ membership, eighteen
voted for the American proposal, and five abstained.
Vladimir Konoplev, vice
speaker of the lower house of the National Assembly told the ITAR-TASS
news agency on February 20 that the restoration of Belarusian membership
rights a wrong committed five years ago. At a press conference in Minsk
on February 24, he stated that not one delegation publicly opposed the
measure, except the U.S. delegation, headed by Christopher Smith. "He leveled
sharp criticism, after which Uta Zapf [head of the OSCE PA Working Group
on Belarus] spoke again. She said that, in this case, the European position
is at odds with the position of the United States of America; America,
as a rule, favors sanctions against any state, while Europe favors dialogue.
Then the voting took place, in which America needed two-thirds of the vote.
I want to point out that, during the vote, the entire American delegation
stoodCthey probably wanted to pressure the European states by watching
who voted for or against. Instead of their necessary two-thirds, they received
18 votes, 20 were against them with five abstentions," Konoplev said.
At the same press conference,
Konoplev said, "We were pleased, on one hand, to see that practically all
the major European countries supported us. On the other hand, it was, honestly,
a little unpleasant to note that, of the CIS countries, Georgia did not
support us and, of the former socialist camp, Bulgaria didn't either. The
prospect of admission to NATO and the European Union leaves a certain mark."
Konoplev expressed special gratitude to the Russian parliamentary group
for its consistent support.
Speaker of the Russian State
Duma Gennady Seleznev told RIA Novosti news agency that the decision is
a "symbolic event that marks a turning point in Belarus’ role in European
society."
The Americans justified
their proposal to put off the vote for six months by pointing out the uncertainty
surrounding the recently reopened OSCE Office in Minsk. Christopher Smith,
the co-chairman of the U.S. Congress=s Commission on Security and Cooperation
in Europe, made the following statement in a last-minute appeal to postpone
the vote: "Otherwise, we may send a very wrong signal to the Lukashenko
regime. You know, I saw a statement by Lukashenko on the OSCE mission in
Minsk. He observed that they had scored a political victory, that we had
changed and agreed not to interfere in the internal affairs of Belarus.
But that it the very substance of human rights. . . . If there is a country
that violates them, we must react. And it seems to me that this new mission
will be very isolated and have very little influence."
That quotation was taken
from Radio Liberty. The head of that station's Belarusian service, Alexander
Lukashuk, who was at the PA session in Vienna, noticed an odd difference
between Uta Zapf's written account of her last visit to Minsk and her statements
at the session in favor of restoring Belarus to membership in the PA.
"The written account of
the situation in Belarus by the OSCE Working Group gave reason to doubt
that the official delegation would be recognized," Lukashuk said. "Not
one of the four conditions imposed by the OSCE were met, the worsening
of conditions for the press, for labor unions, for elections; there has
been no progress in location the missing politicians. One plus: the return
of the OSCE mission with a limited mandate. However, the head of that very
group, Uta Zapf, rather insistently called for the recognition of the official
delegation and said almost nothing about the negative things in her written
account. Those who had not read it, and that was the majority, might have
thought that everything was in order in Belarus."
Indeed, Zapf's change of
heart, like that of the PA as a whole, is hard to explain. Yesterday, democracy
and human rights were the main issue; today it is something different.
A number of explanations have been proposed: mutual Russian and German
economic interests in Belarus, the vote splitting according to supporters
and opponents of war with Iraq, the West's disappointment with the Belarusian
opposition and hope for a meaningful dialog with the National Assembly,
the idea of attracting dictators to international democratic institutions
in order to convert them, and others. No one explanation is entirely convincing,
which suggests that a number of factors coincided and played into the hands
of the Belarusian regime.
Before the PA session, the
United Civic Party, the Belarusian Labor Party, the Belarusian Social-Democratic
Hramada, the Belarusian National Front Party, and the unregistered United
Social-Democratic Party issued a joint statement entitled "On the Worsening
Political Climate in Belarus and the Impermissibility of Legitimizing the
National Assembly." In that document, reference was made to the lack of
progress in democratizing Belarus and the danger involved in recognizing
the National Assembly: "We call attention to the fact that there exists
a real threat to the sovereignty of Belarus. And the National Assembly
with its present membership, and greatly dependent on A. Lukashenko both
politically and financially, is a potential threat to the sovereignty of
the country. The National Assembly can give force of constitutional law
to any proposed act to change the Constitution. Legitimizing Lukashenko's
parliament would mean legitimizing its potential decisions to reduce or
destroy the sovereignty of the country."
Besides open supporters
of the ruling regime, the decision of the PA OSCE was favorably regarded
by leader of the Liberal Democratic Party Sergei Gaidukevich and, in part,
by Belarusian Social-Democratic Party (People's Hramada) leader Mikola
Statkevich. "I welcome the decision of the Parliamentary Assembly," Gaidukevich
said. "Europe has always taken a step-by-step strategy with Belarus, because
isolating us would be dangerous. The opposition can always take part in
the PA OSCE. It's no problem for Gaidukevich, Statkevich or anyone else
to get invited."
Statkevich told the BelaPAN
news agency that the decision strengthens independence and will permit
democracy in Belarus. "The more channels of influence the West has on Belarusian
state institutions, the better it will be for democracy and independence.
Deficient representation in European bodies is deficient statehood."
Statkevich is convinced
that that decision was "long overdue." "There is no legal basis for not
making that decision," he said. "Even the parliament of Turkmenistan is
a member of the PA OSCE. The charter of the PA OSCE places no conditions
on the democratic election of the parliaments."
However, Statkevich gave
a negative assessment to the tactical aspect of the PA OSCE decision. "This
was done just before local council elections. The PA OSCE should have provided
some motivation for more democratic elections, rather than removing such
motivation. The right wing of the Belarusian opposition was also mistaken
in insisting that the National Assembly could not be admitted to the European
body. The official media will portray all democratic forces as being disappointed,
not just the rightists."
All other representatives
of opposition parties made statements critical of the PA decision. Zenon
Poznyak, head of the Conservative Christian Party Belarusian National Front,
was the most outspoken. He said, "Europe has sold Belarus to Moscow. The
OSCE pursues a double standard. Now, in the context of founding a new Paris-Berlin-Moscow
political axis, the OSCE's double standard has been legitimized. For Belarus,
that will mean the legitimization of Russian annexation."
Bulgaria: NATIONAL SECURITY WITHOUT RESPECT
by Peter Karaboev
In the weeks preceding a
major conflict, as in Iraq, one would expect that the ruling party in a
democratic country would behave with great responsibility in the area of
national security. Not in the case of Bulgaria, where the government understands
as national security the privatisation process of major state-owned companies.
In this case, everything
started long before the Iraq crisis emerged on the radar and concerns the
long and painful privatization sale of the Bulgartabac Holding Group, which
owns not only Bulgaria=s tobacco monopoly but also the telecom operator
BTC. Now, the issue has involved the Constitutional Court in a presidential
challenge to a 13-year-long tradition of substitute voting practices in
Bulgaria's 240-seat Parliament.
On March 6, Bulgarian President
Georgi Parvanov appealed to the country's Constitutional Court to invalidate
the widely used practice among Bulgarian parliamentarians of casting proxy
votes in plenary sessions by use of parliamentary voting cards given to
members by absent deputies. Parvanov also requested that the Constitutional
Court justices rule on the legal validity of bills voted on in such a fashion.
Opposition MPs are in turn challenging the validity of approved amendments
to the Privatization and Post-Privatization Control Act before the Constitutional
Court on the grounds that these amendments violate 13 provisions of the
country's basic law, including those relating to the division of powers
and the prerogatives of judicial authorities. The Court agreed to rule
on the appeal and determined that its President, Roumen Yankov, will be
the reporting judge. The decisions of the Constitutional Court, which are
usually taken within a month, are final.
The amendments being challenged
introduce a more relaxed procedure for the privatization of enterprises
of key importance for national security. They entered into force on Friday,
March 7. Their enactment was delayed by a presidential veto that was C
eventually C overridden by the National Assembly. The issue came into the
limelight on February 27, when deputies for the ruling coalition, which
is comprised of the Simeon II National Movement and the predominantly ethnic
Turk Movement for Rights and Freedoms, overrode the presidential veto on
the amendments only by violating parliamentary regulations. Deputies of
the opposition parties refused to take part in the vote and accused the
ruling coalition=s deputies of using the voting cards of fellow parliamentarians
who were absent. Some of the MPs whose votes were cast were not in fact
in the plenary hall; some were even abroad. Under Article 81, paragraph
3 of Bulgaria's Constitution, votes in Parliament must be cast in person
and openly, except when the Constitution requires or the National Assembly
resolves to hold a secret ballot. The meaning of the constitution is clearly
that each and every member of parliament must personally and clearly state
his or her will on any bill before the parliament.
Voting irregularities in
parliament have plagued Bulgaria ever since the Balkan state restored democracy
in 1989, but until now no parliament Speaker managed to solve the problem.
The Speaker of the present 39th National Assembly, Ognyen Gerdzhikov, repeatedly
vowed to end this embarrassing practice but to no avail. He even threatened
to resign but without effect.
In the days after the February
27 vote, the rightist United Democratic Forces, one of the parties in opposition,
circulated a petition calling for the resignation of Ognyen Gerdzhikov
but the socialists, who are also in opposition, killed the motion by refusing
to sign it. It is expected that the Parliamentary Speaker will introduce
regular voting hours as a partial solution of the problem.
In the meantime the privatization
sale of the Bulgartabac will be completed according to the latest dubiously
adopted amendments to the Privatization and Post-Privatization Control
Act. The four bidders for the national tobacco monopoly emerging from two
stages of competitive bidding last year are expected to confirm their offers
by Monday, March 10 and extend their validity until April 20. The new law
requires the Privatisation Agency to report the contents of the four bids
to the Council of Ministers, which then selects the buyer and fixes the
deadline for concluding the privatization contract. The Cabinet resolution
selecting the buyer must be approved by the National Assembly, at which
point the Privatisation Agency opens formal negotiations with the selected
candidate. The final privatization contract must be submitted to the Agency's
Supervisory Board and to the Council of Ministers for approval.
But Parvanov, the Socialists,
and the UDF claim that the lack of a right to appeal against decisions
linked to the 15 sales could create opportunities for corruption and put
off potential investors. In December, the Supreme Court annulled an earlier
decision by Bulgaria's Privatisation Agency to choose Tobacco Capital Partners
-- the Deutsche Bank consortium --- as the buyer of 80 percent of Bulgartabak
for 110 million euros ($219 million). It recommended higher bids be sought.
Other bidders are the Austrian-registered Tobacco Holding, Russia's Rosbulgartabac,
and the Bulgarian-registered Metatabac. The ruling on the landmark sale
dealt a serious setback to the reformist government's goal of raising foreign
investment funds for the country. The amendments to the Privatization Law
that followed do not allow any appeals to the Supreme Court for the sales
of 15 strategic companies including Bulgartabak.
The state economic team
said the amendments will enable it to speed up the long-delayed selling
off of remaining key state-run companies, thereby fulfilling an important
pledge to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Bulgaria's
main donors. The Bulgarian Government now plans to complete the long-delayed
sell-off of the tobacco monopoly by the end of March 2003. But the sale
may be delayed once again if the country's constitutional court declares
the changes to the privatisation law invalid according to President Parvanov=s
appeal.
Russia/Chechnya: DISPATCHES FROM CHECHNYA 27: CHECHNYA
IN THE RUSSIAN PRESS*
(Based on material from the Russian press, November-December
2002)
The long information war
waged by the Russian mass media against the Chechens has been whipped up
into an informational reign of terror since the terrorist act in Moscow
in October. Chechen topics dominated Russian newspapers from the end of
October through mid-November. Under Russian law most of the authors of
the articles appearing at that time could easily be charged with fascist
propaganda and inciting ethnic enmity.
This is true even of the
major papers that usually are reserved and correct in tone no matter what
the topic. On November 13, 2002, Izvestiya published an article by Andrei
Kuraev, a Russian Orthodox priest and candidate's degree-holder, entitled
"War on Terrorism without the Special Forces." Father Andrei writes that
it is not enough to fight terrorism in reaction to separate acts, but it
is necessary to fight against the people and religion that are, in his
view, the source of the terrorism. The priest draws a parallel with the
modern Chechens and ancient Jews, who, he says, were rightly driven into
exile for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. He draws the inescapable conclusion
of collective responsibility of a people for the actions of individual
members. In the priest's opinion, war against the Chechens everywhere in
Russia and harsh repression of
them will be effective against terrorism.
In the weekly Mir novostei
(no. 46, November 12, 2002), Elena Khakimova, in one article called "Mass
Poisoning in Kuban," analyzes various causes for the catastrophic outbreak
of food poisoning at the Kropotkin dairy-products plant. After examining
the official explanation for the epidemic, she turns instead to the possibility
that it was a diversion on the part of the Chechens. "Of course," she writes,
"no one today will say that the mass poisoning of the inhabitants of southern
Russia was a well planned and carefully executed diversion by the rebels.
But certainly such a scenario is entirely possible, especially after the
eloquent revelation of head bandit Maskhadov just before the audience at
'Nord-Ost' was taken hostage." The author lets reliable information takes
a back seat to informational diversion despite a clear explanation for
the events.
Argumenty i fakty newspaper
(no. 46, November 2002) ran two articles on normalization in Chechnya by
Zurab Todua, an expert on the Caucasus and Central Asia and journalist
Vyacheslav Kostikov. In his pseudo-analytical article, "The War Abroad,"
Todua attempts to reinterpret the myths that have arisen around the Russian-Chechen
conflict in the last ten years. In reality, he turns the "confusions,"
or myths, upside down to create commonplace propaganda, written to order,
whose conclusions are that Chechnya was the aggressor in Russian-Chechen
relations, and the war won't stop if Chechnya is granted independence,
it will just take on new forms. Negotiations should not be entered into
if they will be beneficial to Maskhadov. The pacification of Chechnya will
take several decades still.
Kostikov's article, "The
Mistake of Khasavyurt," also concerns normalization in Chechnya, but in
a different light. In an analysis of Russian-Chechen relations since the
Khasavyurt Agreement, Kostikov concludes that peace talks are futile if
they involve only Maskhadov and small-armed groups. Referring to the work
of "Chechen specialist" Emil Pain, Kostikov suggests negotiating with a
coalition made up of all political forces in Chechnya and establishing
a coalition administration, which would control the armed groups. Furthermore,
he says, there can be no military solution to the crisis, but only a long,
hard road to peace through negotiation.
The problem of extraditing
Akhmed Zakaev from Denmark received voluminous coverage in November. Nearly
all Russian newspapers wrote that Denmark sympathizes with and supports
terrorists.
For example, the November
16 issue of Komsomolskaya Pravda, special correspondent Elena Ovcharenko's
article was title "Danish Prime Minister Ready to Forgive Terrorists for
Everything." In it, the author simply accuses the Danish administration,
Prime Minister Rasmussen, and Danish society as a whole of supporting international
terrorism. Ovcharenko pointedly, but without argumentation, criticizes
the Danish government's chairmanship of the European Union, claiming its
prominent role would have gone completely unnoticed were it not for the
October events in Moscow. "But, luckily for the Danes," she writes, "they
took hostages in Moscow, eliciting an outburst of joy in Copenhagen among
the fans of the Chechen Mujahids." The Danes were not observing their legislation
or freedom of speech by allowing the World Chechen Congress to be held
in Copenhagen and by refusing to extradite Zakaev, she wrote, but instead
were following political considerations as undefined by the author. Even
while demanding political and economic sanctions against "disobedient"
Denmark, Ovcharenko still found something good in European democracy: Denmark
will be replaced as EU chairman by Greece, a country "known for its sensible
and constructive approach."
An interview with former
speaker of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation Ruslan Khasbulatov
was published in the weekly Sobesednik (no. 44, November 13-19, 2002).
He said that, after the terrorist act at "Nord-Ost," open season has been
declared on Chechens in Moscow. Law enforcement agents even visited him
to take his fingerprints and those of his family.
Khasbulatov's view was that
the war must stop before mass repression of Chechens and other ethnic Caucasians
will stop in Russia. The only real possibility for normalization in Chechnya
is negotiations between the Russian government and Aslan Maskhadov. It
is also very important, he continued, that developed countries take part
in the reconstruction of the Chechen economy, since Russia, with its economic
problems, will be unable to resurrect the ruined republic. Russian policy
in Chechnya today not only does not allow for peace, it leads to continuing
war and terrorism.
The anti-Chechen hysteria
in the Russian press immediately after the terrorist act at "Nord-Ost"
lost some of its passion over time and calmed down by the beginning of
December. Articles became less aggressive, and some of them even expressed
a measure of sympathy for the Chechens, which was almost entirely absent
a month earlier.
In Kommersant newspaper
(no. 224, December 10, 2002), there is an article by Vladimir Kara-Murza
on the status of the extradition of Zakaev from England. Kara-Murza avoids
evaluation of the situation and the persons involved in it, noting instead
the difficulties Prime Minister Tony Blair finds himself in, needing Russia's
support if a war should begin with Iraq, but not wanting to spoil relations
with the European Union, which is against extradition
An article by Vadim Rechkalov,
"Ibrashka Is a Little Guy," was published on the front page of Izvestiya
(no. 226, December 11, 2002). The article is based on a poll of Chechen
children taken in a school in Grozny. Rechkalov writes that children 10-12
years old in Grozny do not know that they live in Russia. They consider
the Russians aggressors who attacked their country, killed their relatives
and destroyed their homes. Based on these observations, the author concludes
that restoration of normal human relations between Chechens and Russian
authority figures is one prerequisite for normal life in Chechnya.
Still despite the diminished
passions in the Russian press, the political slant of most of the material
appearing in the major newspapers did not change and generally reflects
the official policy of the Russian government. That is not surprising in
light of the strict censorship on all material dealing with Chechnya.
On the front page of Izvestiya
(no. 225) on December 10, 2002 was an interview by Vadim Rechkalov with
Lieutenant General Sergei Babkin, head of the FSB division in Chechnya.
Babkin claims that Russian actions in Chechnya are justified and that all
instances of illegal arrest and murder were perpetrated by the rebels and
then blamed on FSB and Main Intelligence Division agents. According to
the lieutenant general, the Russian special services conduct themselves
lawfully within Chechnya, just as they do in Vladimir and Ryazan Regions.
One might assume from the lieutenant general's line of thought then that
Russian special services agents kidnap and murder people as a hobby in
their off-duty hours since it does not happen "officially".
The only newspaper in Russia
that can be called objective in its coverage of Chechen affairs is Novaya
gazeta.
For many Russian citizens,
Anna Politkovskaya's articles in Novaya gazeta are the only source of more-or-less
accurate information on Chechnya available. A sense of pain, sympathy and
shame pervades Politkovskaya's articles on the anti-Chechen mood in Moscow
after the events at "Nord-Ost." Unfortunately, her clear and honest voice
is drowned out by the lies, hatred and disinformation splashed across the
pages of Russian newspapers, magazines and television screens today. That
reflects the official Russian policy toward the Chechen Republic and toward
Chechens in general.
______________________________________
* Written by correspondents in Chechnya, Dispatches from Chechnya is
prepared by LATTA, a Chechen NGO, and distributed in English by the Institute
for Democracy in Eastern Europe (IDEE). To receive Dispatches by email,
please contact IDEE at [email protected]
Special Addition: M E M O R A N D U M ON FAIR ELECTIONS
IN ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN AND GEORGIA *
The year 2003 will be a
very important one for the countries of South Caucasus. Presidential and
parliamentary elections will be held in Armenia, presidential elections
in Azerbaijan, and parliamentary elections in Georgia. To a great extent,
these elections will define not only the direction for development of all
three countries but of the region as a whole.
Multiparty elections are
no longer a novelty for the citizens of our countries. In the course of
12 years, we have accumulated both positive and negative election experiences.
Sadly, the negative experiences are preponderant; each succeeding election
held in our countries has proven to be worse than the previous one and
represented a further step in falsifying election results and distorting
the will of the electorate. As a result, citizens are more and more apathetic,
alienated from their government, and skeptical of the possibility of genuine
democratic reforms, improvement in the standards of living, a state based
on the rule of law, and developing a real civil society. These are ever
more remote phenomena for our societies.
Unfortunately, some international
organizations and Western institutions, called upon to support and promote
democratic processes in our countries, contribute to the process of our
citizens' disenchantment in the values of freedom and democracy. Most significantly,
during the period of elections, many representatives of different observer
missions, whether willingly or unwillingly, contribute to legitimizing
falsified elections in the eyes of local and international communities.
Among many problems are: the inadequate qualifications of observers, lack
of knowledge of local realities, the impossible effort to cover a substantial
number of election districts and constituencies with a small number of
observers, the lack of coordination between different individual missions,
and other reasons of technical character. In all instances, international
organizations and western institutions turned out to be, as it were, accomplices
in the gross distortion of the will of the electorate. The people living
in the post-Soviet space have suffered from a policy of double standards
to the maximum possible extent.
On the eve of the elections
in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia, we call upon the relevant international
organizations and governments of democratic States to put on their agenda
the urgent issue of holding genuinely free and fair elections in the South
Caucasus states; to emphasize the importance of bringing electoral legislation
in conformity with the standards of the Council of Europe and OSCE; to
urge Authorities of our States to fully comply with their universal requirements
in the course of whole election process; and to secure maximum possible
transparency of electoral procedures and create favorable conditions for
the work of local and international observers and representatives of mass
media. A clear and unambiguous message must be sent to the Governments
of our countries to convince them that there will be zero tolerance for
any manipulations and falsification of results of the elections and that
any such instances will most likely result in the imposition of sanctions
envisaged against those member States of the Council of Europe and OSCE,
which tend to ignore their one commitments.
At the same time, we call
upon the international organizations and institutions, and Governments
of democratic states:
- To coordinate in advance their own efforts directed at observation of elections in our countries;
- To start the observation and monitoring from the very beginning of the election process and complete it only after all appeals and claims have been addressed and there are final rulings of courts and other competent bodies;- To divide among themselves election districts and precincts and carry out ongoing observation of election process from the very start of voting until the moment of drawing up (and getting hold of) final protocols;
- To refuse the practice of sending of inadequately qualified or inexperienced observers and encourage invitation of observers from those countries, which have similar experience of electoral process;In addition, we put forward an initiative of holding an international forum with a preliminary title For Free and Fair Election in the Post-Soviet States with participation of all interested parties: politicians, political scientists, experts working on legislation and election procedures, professional-organizers of elections from different countries, and representatives of NGOs and mass media. Such a forum should work out a number of concrete measures to be undertaken in order to improve the efficiency of electoral processes on the post-Soviet space, to secure the maximum possible support of the international community aimed at holding free and fair elections, to create mechanisms of mutual assistance, to immediately and effectively respond, through all available channels and means, to any instance of violations, to further improve the effectiveness of those organizations that practice sending election observation missions to the post-Soviet States.- To be absolutely objective and unbiased in terms of assessment of the elections.
We place our hopes on your cooperation in contributing to the creation of all necessary conditions for holding free and fair elections, elections that will allow our citizens to make
responsible choices.
______________________________________
* The Memorandum on Fair Elections in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia
was created and signed by more than 15 representatives of regional Centers
of Pluralism at a conference dealing with elections in the Caucasus (November
29 - December 1, 2002 , Tbilisi, Georgia). For signing this Memorandum
and for more information contact Ivlian Haindrava at <[email protected]>,
or Coordinator in Armenia: Natalia Martirosyan at <[email protected]>,
or Coordinator in Azerbaijan: Mustafa Hajibeyli at <[email protected]>