Russia will likely be asked to agree a roadmap to democratize political life at the winter plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg next week.
A PACE post-electoral delegation will visit Russia on January 20-21 to wrap up its report on controversial Russian parliamentary elections held on December 4.
The roadmap for Russia "must include a new electoral law; a new procedure for registering new political parties that will finally make genuine political competition possible; a truly independent judiciary; robust measures to combat corruption and bureaucracy; improved human rights guarantees; and the free expression of opinion through popular demonstrations," one member of the delegation, Andrea Rigoni, wrote in the Moscow Times on Monday.
The delegation is expected to meet with State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin, head of Central Election Committee Vladimir Churov, leaders of all the parties represented in the Duma and leaders of parties that participated in the election but did not get into the parliament (Yabloko, Patriots of Russia and Right Cause).
Delegation members also plan to meet with representatives of public groups that were denied registration as political parties.
The final report of the international observers mission published last week concluded that there were no conditions for fair competition in the Duma elections, citing interference in the electoral process at all levels of government.
