MOSCOW, July 7. /TASS/. Russia’s Central Electoral Commission (CEC) has invited representatives of European states to observe the elections to the State Duma, the lower house of the country’s parliament, CEC Chief Ella Pamfilova said on Thursday.
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Russia’s electoral chief made this statement after a meeting with ambassadors from the member states of the European Union.
"We’re absolutely open and are inviting international observers… We have invited representatives of the countries, let them come," she said.
As the Russian electoral chief said, the meeting lasted two hours and ambassadors from "virtually all" EU countries were present.
"We discussed in detail how the forthcoming elections would proceed. We removed a whole number of misunderstandings, certain myths and fears," the head of Russia’s Central Electoral Commission said.
According to Pamfilova, the ambassadors who took part in the meeting "proceeded from a report by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) based on the results of the previous elections and actually wanted to know what had been done in the wake of those remarks that had been made earlier."
"We showed that what has been done today is more than it could even be expected. Actually the basic remarks voiced by the ODIHR earlier have now been settled," the electoral chief said.
Russia will hold elections to the State Duma under a mixed system on September 18: 225 deputies will be elected on party lists and the other 225 in single-seat constituencies.