[NYTr] Poland bans OSCE poll observers

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

sent by mart 

["Good for the gander - but not good for the goose" and the "Do as I
say, not as I do, Damn it!" news departments. :) Thanks to Irina
Malenko for forwarding this item. 

["Imagine the outcry if Putin or Lukashenko would have done  this!"-
Irina Malrnko ]


BBC News - Sep 22, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/europe/7008373.stm

Poland bans OSCE poll observers

Poland has said it will not allow the Organisation for Security and
Co-operation in Europe to monitor its parliamentary elections next
month.

The foreign ministry in Warsaw said Poland did not need observers
because it was a well-established democracy.

The OSCE, which often sends monitors to cover polls in its member
states, voiced surprise at Poland's move.

However, there are no fears that the 21 October elections will be
rigged, our correspondent in Warsaw says.

The early elections were called by Polish President Lech Kaczynski
after the parliament voted to dissolve itself earlier in September.

The ruling conservative coalition collapsed last month amid corruption
allegations against the leader of a junior partner.

'Faux pas'

"The OSCE asked Poland to admit observers for the election but Poland
rejected the proposal, underlining that Poland is a democracy," Polish
Foreign ministry spokesman Robert Szaniawski said.

"It's a standard procedure that it is the country that invites OSCE
observers for elections, so in this case OSCE made a faux pas," he
added.

A spokeswoman for the OSCE poll monitoring group described the
situation as "unusual".

"A monitoring mission has nothing to do with what we think of the state
of democratic practices in a country," Urdur Gunnarsdottir was quoted
as saying by Reuters news agency.

Poland is one of the 56 members of the OSCE, whose election monitoring
headquarters are based in Warsaw.

As well as monitoring elections in undemocratic countries, the OSCE
sends teams to nations likes France and the United States, the BBC's
Adam Easton in Warsaw says.

Although Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has been accused of
abusing the state's power, nobody seriously believes that his
government is preparing to rig the polls, our correspondent says.

He adds that the government's refusal to co-operate has been widely
criticised in Poland.

Some Western diplomats also say Russia could use Warsaw's example as an
excuse to prevent observers from attending its elections later this
year.