Yesterday it became clear that the negotiations between the delegation of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Central Election Commission ended without result. As ODIHR Director Jan Lenarčič stated at a briefing in Moscow, the bureau is ready to send 60 observers to Russia for a long term and 200 for a short term, which will allow the bureau to "perform its functions efficiently and properly." A reduction in the number of observers "will affect the ability to work properly." The report prepared by the OSCE ODIHR needs assessment mission notes a decline in public confidence in the elections, problems with party registration, and excessive bureaucratization of the electoral legislation.

The ODIHR mission's needs are exaggerated, Vladimir Churov, the CEC Chairman, objected to journalists yesterday. According to him, Russia is ready to accept only about 500 international observers. The number and format have been agreed upon with almost all missions, including representatives of PACE, the OSCE, the Interparliamentary Assembly, and the CIS Executive Committee. Each organization will send 40 to 100 people for observation; long-term observation (four weeks) is planned only by observers from the CIS and the OSCE ODIHR (at least five weeks).

According to Churov, the number of OSCE observers should not exceed the number of CIS observers. "We are against double standards," he said: the ODIHR pays special attention only to the CIS countries and the former Yugoslavia. Only about 10 representatives of the bureau observed the recent parliamentary elections in Great Britain. And after the elections, dissatisfied voters burned down hundreds of houses. If the observation mission had been more extensive and had pointed out the shortcomings more quickly, the consequences might not have been so destructive, Churov argues.

Before the 2007-2008 campaign, the ODIHR failed to find common ground with the CEC, so it boycotted both the Duma and presidential elections. Lenarčič said yesterday that he would like to prevent such a scenario. The parties promise to continue negotiations.

The Central Election Commission does not need additional observers from the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights