OSCE PA’s Tidei and Link to lead election observers in Russia

COPENHAGEN, 7 March 2018 – A large team of parliamentarians from the OSCE will observe the upcoming presidential election in the Russian Federation. Michael Georg Link (MP, Germany) will serve as Special Co-ordinator, leading the short-term OSCE mission of some 420 international observers for the 18 March vote. Marietta Tidei (MP, Italy) will serve as Head of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly delegation, which will include some 90 members of parliament from more than 30 countries.

“My fellow observers and I are following the electoral process in Russia in great detail, and look forward to deploying across the country on election day. I hope for continued good co-operation with the CEC, under the leadership of Ella Pamfilova, as we have enjoyed in the past. We also look forward to getting a full and realistic picture of the actual functioning the electoral system as we deploy our election observation mission in the coming days,” Special Co-ordinator Link said.

Link is a member of parliament from Germany and has previously served as First Deputy Foreign Minister of Germany and as Director of the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

Marietta Tidei, who will be the head of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly delegation of observers, is an OSCE PA Vice-President and previously served as Rapporteur of the Assembly’s economic and environmental committee.

“The OSCE PA has observed ten elections in the Russian Federation since 1993 and over that time there have been many changes in the geopolitical landscape, but one thing that has not changed is the relevance of the democratic commitments to which all OSCE participating States have agreed. These commitments are spelled out in the OSCE’s 1990 Copenhagen Document and it is on this basis that we will offer our balanced assessment of the 18 March presidential election,” Tidei said.

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly previously observed elections in Russia in 1993, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2012, and 2016.

For the 18 March election, the PA will be working closely with the mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), led by Ambassador Jan Petersen. ODIHR’s long-term observer mission for these elections have been present in the Russian Federation since 5 February.

The joint findings of the observers will be delivered at a press conference in Moscow on 19 March.

For more information on the OSCE PA’s election observation activities, please click here.