OSCE Special Co-ordinator Ignacio Sanchez Amor (left) and OSCE PA Delegation Head Ivana Dobesova speak to the media outside a polling station in Bishkek on election day, 4 October 2015. BISHKEK, 5 October 2015 – The parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan were competitive and provided voters with a wide range of choice, while the manner in which they were administered highlighted the need for better procedures and increased transparency, the

OSCE PA President Ilkka Kanerva speaks in Moscow, 1 October 2015. (courtesy of the Russian State Duma) COPENHAGEN, 1 October 2015 – Interparliamentary organizations, national parliaments and individual parliamentarians can best promote international security by championing rules and norms, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) said in Moscow today. President Kanerva also underscored the role of frequent and

Roza Aknazarova speaks at the OSCE PA Annual Session, Helsinki, 6 July 2015. COPENHAGEN, 28 September 2015 – Roza Aknazarova (MP, Kyrgyzstan), the Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Economic Affairs, Science, Technology and Environment, today welcomed the adoption of the United Nations’ post-2015 development agenda and urged the OSCE’s participating States to pursue faithful implementation. Seventeen Sustainable Development

OSCE PA Vice President Aleknaite Abramikiene speaks in Warsaw, 25 September 2015. (courtesy of Piotr Markowski, OSCE/ODIHR) COPENHAGEN, 25 September 2015 – Addressing the OSCE/ODIHR’s Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw today, OSCE PA Vice-President Vilija Aleknaite Abramikiene (MP, Lithuania) noted the enduring value of the 1990 OSCE Copenhagen Document in helping to promote democratic institutions. Speaking during the Meeting’s

Kent Harstedt (left), the Special Co-ordinator of the OSCE’s short-term observers for Belarusian presidential election, meets with Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei, Minsk, 22 September 2015. COPENHAGEN, 24 September 2015 – The Special Co-ordinator of the OSCE’s short-term observers for the presidential election in Belarus, Kent Harstedt (MP, Sweden), met with high-level officials and a range of other interlocutors in Minsk and Homel this week to

COPENHAGEN, 23 September 2015 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva decided last week that no OSCE PA delegation will deploy to observe the 1 November parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, in line with an earlier decision made by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). The President announced his decision during the Assembly’s Autumn Meeting, saying on 17 September that if ODIHR would not send