| JRL HOME | SUPPORT | SUBSCRIBE | RESEARCH & ANALYTICAL SUPPLEMENT | |
Old Saint Basil's Cathedral in MoscowJohnson's Russia List title and scenes of Saint Petersburg
Excerpts from the JRL E-Mail Community :: Founded and Edited by David Johnson
#34 - JRL 2007-148 - JRL Home
Pamfilova Insists On Better Public Monitoring Of Federal Elections

MOSCOW. July 4 (Interfax) - The coalition of nongovernmental organizations "Right to Choice-2008" is planning to put forth proposals that could be used by the government to prevent any violations in forthcoming federal elections.

"These will be proposals we plan to present to the government, proposals that could help prevent possible violations," chairman of the Russian presidential council for assistance to the development of civil society and human rights institutions Ella Pamfilova said at a press conference at Interfax on Wednesday.

"Public monitoring of the forthcoming elections is necessary for our electoral system not to died completely or lose all credibility," she said.

The "Right to Choice-2008" coalition already includes 29 organizations that plan to monitor the elections.

"We are negotiating with many organizations that monitor elections. All of us are people with democratic views. There must be a public impact on the upcoming elections. We know the sentiments, people are not interested in the upcoming elections, which is sad, because our party is still weak, and the parliament itself plays an insignificant role," Pamfilova said.

"We need to make sure that the elections are clean, without flagrant vote-rigging and violations. There is a huge bureaucratic class, whose interests differ from those of the public. The question is are we ready to pay the price to let the elections be held according to their scenario," said the head of the Council.