Soares to lead OSCE Parliamentary Assembly observers to Kazakhstan

OSCE PA observers are scheduled to be deployed to several areas of Kazakhstan, including Astana, Almaty, Oskemen, Pavlodar, Karaganda, Kyzylorda, Oral, and Atyrau. Observers are also expected to visit Aktau in the region of Mangystau, where deadly clashes recently took place between striking oil workers and police, the OSCE PA press service reports.

Soares will address the OSCE short-term observers on Wednesday and deliver the post-election statement at a news conference in Astana Monday.

Soares is a Member of Parliament from Portugal and serves as the Assembly's Special Representative on the South Caucasus. He has previously led five OSCE PA observer delegations, most recently to the United States in November 2010.

The OSCE mission, comprising the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, will be joined by colleagues from the Council of Europe. The elections are being assessed on the basis of Kazakhstan's election-related commitments laid out in the 1990 OSCE Copenhagen Document.

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly has observed seven elections in Kazakhstan since 1994.