Draft Statement on Non-Interference in Election Processes of the CSTO States was submitted to the Council

On March 19, an extraordinary meeting of the Standing Commission on Political Affairs and International Cooperation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization was held remotely.
The participants decided to send to the CSTO PA Council a draft Statement on the Inadmissibility of Foreign Interference in the Election Processes of the CSTO Member States.
“No state or its representative has the right to interfere in the election processes, much less try impose any demands on the Organization’s Member States, including by providing illegal support to the opposition forces through various non-governmental organizations,” the draft Statement reads. “The information resources, social networks and video hosting sites operated from abroad and carrying out political censorship of the online content without a court decision or other authorization represent a great threat.
We consider such anti-democratic practices a direct threat to the sovereignty and national security of the Organization’s Member States.”

The issue of the CSTO PA Council’s adoption of the Statement on the Inadmissibility of Foreign Interference in the Election Processes of the CSTO Member States was submitted to the CSTO PA by the parliamentary delegation of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation at a session of the CSTO PA Standing Commission on Political Affairs and International Cooperation on March 2, 2021, in view of the results of elections held in a number of CSTO Member States in 2020 and the beginning of 2021 and the events that followed them.
On March 2, the commission decided to consider the draft Statement at an extraordinary meeting before the CSTO PA Council.
On March 19, the extraordinary meeting of the commission reviewed and approved the draft Statement.
It took into account the comments and proposals of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and the Majlisi Oli of the Republic of Tajikistan.
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