MINSK, 27 January (BelTA) - The West's monopoly on election assessment is over, Konstantin Kosachev, coordinator of the observer group from the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (CIS IPA), deputy chairman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of Russia, told the media, BelTA learned.
“The West tried to take over the institution of international observation for a long time. The well-known OSCE/ODIHR institution was established back in 1990 and for a couple of decades the West had a near monopoly on election assessment in other countries, including those outside the OSCE area and tried to impose the view that if the OSCE/ODIHR, the OSCE PA, the Council of Europe PA, other Western structures criticize some things in their reports, then it is the ultimate truth. Or if observers do not monitor elections, then these elections are obviously illegitimate. This is the views that our Western opponents, not our partners but our opponents, have tried to impose on the world,” Konstantin Kosachev said.
Nobody delegated them this monopoly, Konstantin Kosachev emphasized. “This is a self-appropriated monopoly. First of all, OSCE/ODIHR observation is highly politicized. We understand perfectly well that they deploy large-scale observation only in those countries that the West wants to retrain and show their place. Secondly, they premise their findings (as a rule, they are drawn up even before these elections) on a country they evaluate (loyal or disloyal to the so-called collective West) and on the winner of elections,” Konstantin Kosachev said.
“In the CIS we have watched this situation in its dynamics. It is no coincidence that we set up the International Institute for Monitoring the Development of Democracy at the CIS IPA back in 2006. It has been working for two decades. It is well-established. It has gained strength and is at least as competent or even more competent than all other foreign authorities put together. Therefore, the West's monopoly on assessing elections is definitely coming to an end. This is good news,” Konstantin Kosachev added. “The fact that they were not present in the Republic of Belarus [at the presidential election] in no way changes either the content and substance of the election or its assessment”.
