CIS observer mission says Russian election transparent

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia's March 4 presidential election, which was won by Vladimir Putin, was transparent and conducted fully in accordance with Russian law according to an observer mission from the CIS states, RIA Novosti reported.

An interim statement from the mission was given at a briefing on Monday, March 5, by its head, Nauriz Aidarov.

"International observers from the CIS came to a clear conclusion," he said.

"There was a high degree of political activity at institutes of civil society, all participants of the electoral process were not hindered from conducting meetings and demonstrations, there was rapid response by the authorities to their suggestions...the CIS observer mission assesses the conduct of the March 4 election as transparent, conducted in conditions of fair competition, openness, and in accordance with generally recognized international norms," he said.

A group of foreign observers from countries outside the post-Soviet region also declared the elections open, transparent and fair on Monday.

Eighty-nine percent of foreign monitors rated the elections as "good," with nine percent going for "acceptable" and one percent denouncing them as "bad," said one of the monitors, U.S. attorney Kline Preston.

He cited malfunctioning webcams monitoring the elections and problems with access for disabled voters to polling stations as things that influenced the ratings, but said no outright violations were spotted.

A total of 122 independent foreign observers filed their findings on the Sunday election with Russian authorities.