PARIS, September 20. /TASS/. The Election Assessment Mission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) pointed to "the generally smooth voting process" in Russia's parliamentary elections in a statement released on Monday.
According to the document, "the aim of the Election Assessment Mission was to assess the general atmosphere around the elections."
"The delegation appreciated the good cooperation of the authorities as well as the generally smooth voting process on the election days, while noting concerns, notably expressed by certain political stakeholders, about the electoral framework and environment which appear to have impacted the electoral process. These will be summarized in a memorandum for the Bureau and feed into the report on the honoring of commitments and obligations by the Russian Federation," the statement reads.
The Election Assessment Mission "expects the Russian authorities and the Russian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to continue co-operation and political dialogue with the Monitoring Committee so as to address the long-standing issues relating to the electoral framework, process and practices."
Elections to the eighth Russian State Duma (the lower house of parliament) spanned over three days, September 17, 18, and 19. In addition to the State Duma elections, voters also cast their ballots for the heads of nine Russian regions and members of 39 regional parliaments.