Election Assessments

The elections to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of Russian Federation on 4 December 2011 were monitored by international observers from the OCSE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR), the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and also by a CIS observation mission.

On 5 December the OCSE issued a Statement of Preliminary Findings and Conclusions: "This assessment was made to determine whether these elections complied with OSCE commitments and Council of Europe standards, as well as with national legislation. In many regions of the country, regional and local elections were held concurrently with the parliamentary elections and were observed only to the extent that they may have impacted the conduct of the latter. This statement of preliminary findings and conclusions is delivered prior to the completion of the electoral process. The final assessment of the elections will depend, in part, on the conduct of the remaining stages of the election process; in particular, the tabulation and announcement of results, and the handling of possible post-election day complaints and appeals. The OSCE/ODIHR will issue a comprehensive final report, including recommendations for potential improvements, some eight weeks after the completion of the election process. The OSCE PA will present its report at its 2012 winter meeting. The PACE delegation will present its report at January 2012 part-session".

The full text of the Statement can be found at http://www.osce.org/odihr/85757, accessed 16 December 2011.

The full text of the Commonwealth of Independent States' observation mission declaration on the results of the elections can be found at http://www.cis.minsk.by/news.php?id=435, accessed 16 December 2011.

The reports of the Russian non-profit organisation "Golos" can be found at http://www.golos.org/asset/5223 (in Russian),accessed 16 December 2011.