courtesy of Registan.net

A Russian-based NGO has been refused observer status on the grounds that they are not an international organization. RFE/RL story here.

As far as I gathered from Khabar yesterday, they plan to protest it in court. Nathan links to a nice explanation of who these guys are.

[EDIT; And on the opposition-biased IAC Eurasia, some reported irregularities,
including that CIS-EMO was registered as an international organization in Ukraine, and that they were under heavy surviellience by the police.

The note has been made that these are not official CIS observers, but their reports are often in line with official CIS results, so it seems like potentially a good sign that they are not accredited, though this seems more in line with the “No foreign interference” line than anything else. Still the CIS monitors tended to heap praises on the previous elections–and were thus cited often in the official press–whereas the OSCE tended to point to flaws and issues. So this might also go under the “We want the OSCE chairmanship” policy.

Note this quote on: Kazelection2005 a website specially designed for foreigners to understand the election.

The OSCE is satisfied with the recent decision of the Constitutional Council to recognise the law on NGOs as non-complying with the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan.” “[This is] an important and doubtlessly a positive step of Kazakhstan in its wish to assert itself as a democratic state.
Mr Ivar Vikki, Head of the OSCE office in Almaty, August 30th 2005

Having worked in the Kazakhstan government, I can picture the bureaucrat who came up with the idea of putting OSCE quotes up, not to mention the recent Condoleeza Rice quote on the index page. I’m sure his boss loved it but it strikes a note or overdoneness to me.

Registan.net has a link to an interim report on the elections as well.

All That’s Leftsky is a poli-sci major at the University of Louisville has apparently resolved to write a letter a week to Congress either pro- or anti- a bill. Yesterday’s was S. RES. 293, 27 October 2005 which supports a free and fair election in Kazakhstan.
His reasons include the strategic resources and growing economic influence of the nation, and also the potential ripple effects on other nations badly in need of democratization, including Russia (this will warm the Slavic heart) and of course it’s geopolitical location between Russia and China.

The resolution itself can be found here: Calling for a free and fair presidential election in the Republic of Kazakhstan (more…)

DNews, claiming to be: “Opinionated news exctraction (sic) for all by that geeky accountant type guy…” proves that the Borat incident has hit such levels as to reach Australia.

I neglected to append the comment from the official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that 1) Borat might be an agent of someone or other–that always means America or the opposition and 2) They might take legal action to prevent future pranks, cause that seemed to get good coverage

He provides in answer, I’m not sure pro or anti or netural, 50 Things About Kazakhstan You May Not Know, apparently originally published by The Independent. If that isn’t a drinking game, I don’t know what is.

Highlights with commentary
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