European election observation mission to come to US

OSCE Chairman appoints special co-ordinators to lead election observation missions to Kazakhstan, Belarus, Ukraine and United States
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SOFIA, 8 September 2004 - The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy, has appointed four OSCE parliamentarians as special co-ordinators to lead observation missions for forthcoming elections in Kazakhstan, Belarus, Ukraine and the United States.

OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) Vice-President, Ihor Ostash (Ukraine), was appointed to lead the observation mission for the 19 September parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan.

OSCE PA Vice-President Tone Tingsgard (Sweden) will lead the observation mission for the 17 October parliamentary elections in Belarus, and former OSCE PA President Bruce George (United Kingdom) has been appointed to head the mission for the 31 October presidential election in Ukraine.

The observation mission for the 2 November presidential and congressional elections in the United States will be led by OSCE PA Vice-President Barbara Haering (Switzerland).

The election observation missions will assess the conduct of the elections, the political campaigns and the role of the media in the respective countries.

For further information, please contact:
Richard Murphy
Spokesperson/Head of Press and Public Information
Press and Public Information Section
OSCE Chairman-in-Office
Kaerntner Ring 5-7
1010, Vienna
Austria
Tel.: +43-1 514 36 180
+43-664 548 53 89 (mobile)
Fax: +43-1 514 36 105
E-mail: richard.murphy [at] osce.org