Foreign observers share their opinion on the election (2/5)

Viola von Cramon, Member of the German delegation at PACE and OSCE observer,commented that there were no big and obvious manipulations during the vote, but many of those happened before the election. Earlier reports by various observers clearly show that. One is the procedure to set up election commissions in a way to let very few opposition representatives or people from small parties who had barely anything to do with the election be members of election commissions. All observers assumed that this election could hardly be free and fair. Repressions, mostly aimed against the opposition, took place on a massive scale, especially in single-candidate constituencies. In 44 out of 80 constituencies, numerous cases of intimidation – sometimes physical harm – occurred. The way election commissions were set up and games with commission members prove that someone had been trying to use all the leverage they could use prior to the election.