Electoral Security a Vital Aspect of CSTO States’ National Security

On September 10, the media centre of the Russian Central Election Commission hosted a discussion of the problems of foreign election interference.

Sergei Pospelov, Executive Secretary of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly, reported on the activities of the Parliamentary Assembly to counter electoral-security threats, particularly on the development and approval in December 2022 of the Recommendations on the Improvement of Legislation in the Area of Securing Electoral Processes and Sovereignty in the CSTO Member States, which he called a “breakthrough” for coordinated interparliamentary cooperation and development of the international legal framework.

“A kind of legal standard has been created that governs the protection of democratic elections, electoral processes and sovereignty of the CSTO Member States from foreign interference, including the digitalization challenges in the social and political sphere,” Mr Pospelov said.

He also stressed that joint legal and monitoring activities in the Assembly format are actively supported by the parliaments of all Organization Member States.

“At the suggestion of the Assembly, the term ‘electoral security,’ which was proposed in a CSTO PA model legislative act, became one of the elements of the draft Concept of the National Security Strategy of the Republic of Belarus, which is an important event for the parliamentary dimension of the Organization in particular and for the prospects of development of this direction in the CSTO as a whole,” Sergei Pospelov said.

The CSTO PA Executive Secretary noted that election and referendum observation by Parliamentary Assembly monitoring groups are becoming a highly demanded and important tool for the defence of sovereignty against foreign interference and, at the same time, a mechanism for the development of this direction in the CSTO as a whole from foreign interference and at the same time a mechanism to support friendly countries.

“We are ready to share with all interested parties the experience of open, unbiased and objective monitoring activities. This is a positive difference between the missions of the CSTO PA and the selectivity and closedness demonstrated by multi-level European monitoring formats, whose reports often resemble attempts to swing fists after a fight, to use the granted powers for cognitive reformatting of the local populace and, at the same time, of the global and national information space,” Mr Pospelov concluded.

As you may recall, a three-day election period was completed on September 10 in Russia. The last polling station to close was in Kaliningrad.