Leonid Kalashnikov: CSTO PA takes measures to protect electoral sovereignty of CSTO Member States

Leonid Kalashnikov, member of the CSTO PA Standing Commission on Political Affairs and International Cooperation and Chairman of the Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots of the Russian State Duma, reported on the measures taken by the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly to protect the electoral sovereignty of the Collective Security Treaty Organization Member States at a meeting of chairpersons of committees (commission) of the parliaments of the CSTO Member States dealing with international relations issues, held in the Russian State Duma.

Mr Kalashnikov recalled that on September 30, 2017, a field session of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly Standing Commissions on Political Affairs and International Cooperation held inter-parliamentary hearings on the collective security system’s effective counteraction to hybrid wars in modern conditions. The hearings involved a broad community of experts and representatives of organizations drafting CSTO PA model legislation.

The proposals made by the experts were used as a basis for plans to improve the legislative frameworks of the CSTO Member States, as well as for approbation of draft model laws and recommendations developed by the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly to counteract hybrid warfare.

“Given the significance of the electoral processes in ensuring national security, measures taken by the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly to increase the participation of the CSTO PA representatives in international observation missions at presidential and parliamentary elections and referenda held in the CSTO Member States are becoming increasingly important,” said Leonid Kalashnikov.

“This is becoming an increasingly relevant for ensuring electoral sovereignty and political stability in the Member States of the Organization amid the increasing attempts of external forces to use elections to destabilize the situation. To counter this practice, we are implementing a set of measures to prevent the delegitimization of elections in the CSTO Member States,” he stressed.

“In 2021 alone, international observer groups from the CSTO PA participated six times in monitoring elections and referenda held in the CSTO Member States,” the Chairman of the Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots of the Russian State Duma recalled.

He reminded that on November 29, 2021, the remotely held plenary session of CSTO PA discussed the issue on the standards of democratic elections in the CSTO Member States and their protection against foreign interference. Vladimir Andreichenko, deputy Chairman of the Council of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly and Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, reported on the subject. Following the discussion, a decision was adopted expressing support to the state bodies of the Republic of Belarus to ensure stability of socio-political situation in the state and also recognizing the necessity to formalize the legal capacity of the CSTO PA to monitor electoral processes in the States of the Organization.

“As a result of these efforts we adopted Provisions on Participation of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly in International Observation of Elections and Referenda, a document which regulates CSTO PA’s activities to monitor the electoral processes in the Organization’s Member States at this stage,” said Mr Kalashnikov.