"Russian observers are members of the relevant OSCE mission, which makes it possible to expand the observation process, to work out common criteria for democratic elections and closer cooperation," Kimmo Kiljunen said in a RIA interview. He believes that joint observation would make the process more impartial.
"There is no necessity of arranging an observation process under the CIS aegis. If we continue the observation together, there can be more responsible and objective results," says Kiljunen.
He admitted that one of the substantial setbacks of the current observation process is that OSCE observers have settled chiefly on the territory of former Soviet republics while they should spread their activities to Western Europe as well.
Commenting on the OSCE observers' work in Kyrgyztstan, he said they tried to perform their mission as well as they could. "It is not our fault that the elections did not always comply with criteria the Kyrgyz government had committed itself to follow," he added.
The head of the observation mission believes that there were no grave imperfections during the polls and that the results were quite legitimate. OSCE complaints referred chiefly to the election campaign in Kyrgyzstan.
In the opinion of Kimmo Kiljunen, there is no alternative to the OSCE observation system and the perfection of this system and cooperation within its framework are the main priorities.
Last Monday, Russia's foreign ministry came up with the statement that Moscow was concerned over the developments in the south of Kyrgyzstan. This statement also expressed hopes that foreign observers, including the OSCE representatives, who had monitored the two rounds of parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan, "would show still more responsibility when formulating their conclusions in order to avoid provoking subversive elements to use these assessments as 'grounds' for their law-infringing activities."
