MOSCOW, August 4. /TASS/. Neither the presence nor absence of observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) can determine the legitimacy of Russia’s parliamentary election, while the move to limit the number of observers is based on coronavirus restrictions, Russian Federation Council (the upper house of parliament) Deputy Speaker Konstantin Kosachev told TASS on Wednesday.
"As far as I know, quantitative restrictions apply to all observer missions without exception, they are based solely on measures aimed at preventing the coronavirus from spreading. Besides, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODHIR) was given the highest quota possible in the current situation, there was no discrimination," he said, commenting on the decision by the leaders of the OSCE ODHIR and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly not to send observers to monitor Russia’s State Duma election. "Anyway, I would like to point out that neither the presence nor absence of OSCE ODIHR observers can determine the legitimacy of the election," the Russian senator emphasized.
The OSCE ODIHR said in a statement earlier on Wednesday that "the OSCE will not be able to send observers for the upcoming elections to the Duma due to limitations imposed by Russian Federation authorities on the election observation." "The ability to independently determine the number of observers necessary for us to observe effectively and credibly is essential to all international observation," the statement quoted ODIHR Director Matteo Mecacci as saying.
On June 17, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree scheduling Russia’s parliamentary elections for the Unified Election Day, September 19, 2021. Voting will last three days, from September 17 to 19. In addition, nine Russian constituent entities will hold direct elections of regional heads and 39 regions will elect regional assemblies.