Finnish parliamentarian to lead OSCE short-term election observation mission during Tajikistan election

COPENHAGEN, 26 October, 2006 - Kimmo Kiljunen, a Finnish Member of Parliament, has been appointed to lead the OSCE short-term election observation mission during the 6 November Presidential election in Tajikistan.

Kiljunen was appointed Special Co-ordinator for the Mission by the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht.

The OSCE Election Observation Mission is a joint undertaking of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, which has deployed a long-term mission headed by Onno van der Wind.

Kiljunen, who has extensive experience in public office, elections and in leading OSCE election observation missions, will also lead the delegation of parliamentarians from the OSCE PA.

On election day, observers will be deployed to polling stations to monitor the sealing of ballot boxes, voting and the counting of ballots. Since 1993, the OSCE PA has deployed more than 2200 parliamentarians to observe more than 80 elections across the OSCE region.

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, created by the CSCE Summit in Paris in 1990, is the parliamentary dimension of the 56-state Organization. The primary task of the 320-member Assembly is to facilitate inter-parliamentary dialogue.