OSCE Special Co-ordinator Emin Onen (MP, Turkey; third from right) and OSCE PA Delegation Head Arta Dade (MP, Albania; second from right) speak to reporters outside a polling station on election day in Chisinau. CHISINAU, 1 December 2014 – The 30 November parliamentary elections were characterized by a wide choice of political alternatives and were generally well administered, although the deregistration of one electoral contestant shortly

COPENHAGEN, 27 November 2014 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) issued the following statement today on the opening session of the new Ukrainian Parliament and the election of a Speaker: "Today the newly elected lawmakers of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada assembled for the first time following last month's historic vote. I congratulate Volodymyr Groysman on his election to the post of Speaker and look forward to close

OSCE PA President Ilkka Kanerva addresses the NATO PA's Annual Session, 24 November. COPENHAGEN, 24 November 2014 – It is first and foremost up to Russia to take immediate, concrete steps towards a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) said today in an address at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s 60th Annual Session in The Hague. “Key OSCE commitments have been swept

COPENHAGEN, 24 November 2014 – The chair of OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s human rights committee, Isabel Santos (MP, Portugal), today called on Russian authorities to ensure the ability of non-governmental organizations, including human rights group Memorial, to continue their important work and rescind restrictive regulations on their activities. Santos noted that in order to avoid being shut down by the authorities, Memorial, one of Russia’s

Top left: OSCE PA President Emeritus Ranko Krivokapic (MP, Montenegro), GMF President Karen Donfried, OSCE PA President Ilkka Kanerva Top right: OSCE PA Secretary General Spencer Oliver, Kanerva, GMF Senior Vice President for Programs Ivan Vejvoda Bottom left: former OSCE PA President and U.S. Congressman Alcee Hastings, former OSCE PA President and Helsinki +40 Project Chair Joao Soares, Russian Academy of Sciences expert Andrei Zagorski,

COPENHAGEN, 14 November 2014 – On the eve of the 5th anniversary of the death of Sergei Magnistky, the Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's human rights committee, Isabel Santos (MP, Portugal), has called for an end to impunity in Russia and greater attention to the persistent link between corruption and human rights transgressions across the OSCE area. "The killing of whistleblowing Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky on 16 November 2009