Washington Post 30 November 2011 By Associated Press MOSCOW — Alexei Balitsky, a student at Russia's top engineering school, is among hundreds of people across the country who have complained of pressure to vote for the Kremlin's party in this weekend's parliamentary elections. The independent election watchdog group Golos said Wednesday that about a third of the 4,000 complaints of violations it has received so far come from voters who say

COPENHAGEN, 25 November 2011 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly leaders today expressed deep disappointment with yesterday's ruling in the case of Ales Bialiatski, leader of the Belarusian human rights organization Viasna. On 24 November, the Pervomaiski District Court of Minsk sentenced Bialiatski to four and a half years in prison, confiscation of property and a fine for "concealment of profits on an especially large scale in pursuance of prior

Matteo Mecacci at the OSCE Human Dimension Committee meeting, 14 November 2011. VIENNA, 15 November 2011 – In a continuation of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's efforts to forge closer co-operation with the OSCE's governmental side in Vienna, Matteo Mecacci, chair of the OSCE PA's Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions, met with his counterpart committee Monday and outlined several ways the upcoming Ministerial Council

TREND.AZ 14 November 2011 OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Secretary General Spencer Oliver arrived in Georgia last night. As Oliver told journalists at the Tbilisi Airport, the goal of the visit is preparation for the OSCE PA Economic Forum in Tbilisi. The OSCE PA Economic Forum will be held in Georgia in May 2012. "I intend to get acquainted with the conditions of holding the forum and will meet with the leadership of the Georgian Parliament," he

BBC Russian 31 October 2011 День голосования в Киргизии был омрачен значительными нарушениями, особенно во время подсчета голосов и подведения итогов, отметили аккредитованные на выборах президента наблюдатели от ОБСЕ. В опубликованном 31 октября предварительном заключении наблюдателей сказано, что работа центризбиркома характеризовалась "значительным отсутствием прозрачности". "Значительное число" избирательных участков получило негативную

RFE/RL 31 October 2011 Kyrgyzstan's former prime minister, Almazbek Atambaev, is poised to become president after winning by a sizeable margin in the October 30 election. There were doubts that Atambaev could clear the 50-percent hurdle needed to claim an outright victory and prevent the country from heading into a combative second round. But in the end, he appeared to succeed handily, winning nearly 63 percent of the vote. Central Election