International team to monitor presidential election
Observers will be part of OSCE's human rights office
From David de Sola
CNN
Sunday, August 8, 2004 Posted: 8:22 PM EDT (0022 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A team of international observers will monitor the presidential election in November, according to the U.S. State Department.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe was invited to monitor the election by the State Department. The observers will come from the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.
It will be the first time such a team has been present for a U.S. presidential election.
"The U.S. is obliged to invite us, as all OSCE countries should," spokeswoman Urdur Gunnarsdottir said. "It's not legally binding, but it's a political commitment. They signed a document 10 years ago to ask OSCE to observe elections."
Thirteen Democratic members of the House of Representatives, raising the specter of possible civil rights violations that they said took place in Florida and elsewhere in the 2000 election, wrote to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in July, asking him to send observers.
After Annan rejected their request, saying the administration must make the application, the Democrats asked Secretary of State Colin Powell to do so.
The issue was hotly debated in the House, and Republicans got an amendment to a foreign aid bill that barred federal funds from being used for the United Nations to monitor U.S. elections, The Associated Press reported.
In a letter dated July 30 and released last week, Assistant Secretary of State Paul Kelly told the Democrats about the invitation to OSCE, without mentioning the U.N. issue.
"I am pleased that Secretary Powell is as committed as I am to a fair and democratic process," said Democratic Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, who spearheaded the effort to get U.N. observers.
"The presence of monitors will assure Americans that America cares about their votes and it cares about its standing in the world," she said in a news release.
Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee of California agreed.
"This represents a step in the right direction toward ensuring that this year's elections are fair and transparent," she said.
"I am pleased that the State Department responded by acting on this need for international monitors. We sincerely hope that the presence of the monitors will make certain that every person's voice is heard, every person's vote is counted."
OSCE, the world's largest regional security organization, will send a preliminary mission to Washington in September to assess the size, scope, logistics and cost of the mission, Gunnarsdottir said.
The organization, which counts among its missions conflict prevention and postconflict rehabilitation, will then determine how many observers are required and where in the United States they will be sent.
"OSCE-participating [nations] agreed in 1990 to observe elections in one another's countries. The OSCE routinely monitors elections within its 55-state membership, including Europe, Eurasia, Canada and the United States," a State Department spokesman said.
The spokesman said the United States does not have any details on the size and composition of the observers or what countries will provide them.
OSCE, based in Vienna, Austria, has sent more than 10,000 personnel to monitor more than 150 elections and referenda in more than 30 countries during the past decade, Gunnarsdottir said.
In November 2002, OSCE sent 10 observers on a weeklong mission to monitor the U.S. midterm elections. OSCE also sent observers to monitor the California gubernatorial recall election last year.
More recently, OSCE monitored the elections in Northern Ireland in November and in Spain in March.
Damn you Democrats is what I say !! This makes me mad as hell. Why ? IF OSCE finds issue with anything during the election, then what ? What power do they have ? How will this impact our independence ? Will in the future we see elections only is the EU or UN or OSCE see's it neccessary ? HUGE impact here IMO .... Damn you Democrats .... [:@][:@]
RE: How do ya'll feel about this ? (2004 election related)
Quote:
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the largest regional security organization in the world with 55 participating States from Europe, Central Asia and North America. It is active in early warning, conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation.
The OSCE approach to security is comprehensive and co-operative: comprehensive in dealing with a wide range of security-related issues including arms control, preventive diplomacy, confidence- and security-building measures, human rights, democratization, election monitoring and economic and environmental security; co-operative in the sense that all OSCE participating States have equal status, and decisions are based on consensus.
RE: How do ya'll feel about this ? (2004 election related)
I promise ya'll this right here and now .... if I see any of these OSCE reps at my voting place, I'll tell them to get the hell out of my country. Its slim to none there will be anyway " monitoring" my voting but if there is, I'll do it, I swear.
RE: How do ya'll feel about this ? (2004 election related)
Didn't they have a hearing on whether any single person was disenfranchised, and Jackson and crew couldn't prove it? Yet they run around claiming that 1,000,000 people were disenfranchised as though it were a fact. They should make them prove it, or arrest them for slander.
RE: How do ya'll feel about this ? (2004 election related)
I guess GWB 1 shouldn't have agreed to it. He signed it,right?
Quote:
OSCE-participating [nations] agreed in 1990 to observe elections in one another's countries. The OSCE routinely monitors elections within its 55-state membership, including Europe, Eurasia, Canada and the United States," a State Department spokesman said.
Stupid decision.
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RE: How do ya'll feel about this ? (2004 election related)
I was never for Democrat or Republican, I use to vote for who I thought was best for the job. But after the last pres. election and all the whining that went on by the democrats I am all the way Republican. This is the latest in their sandbox tantrums, reminds me of a my kids when they were little, " Mommm Jonny took my doll." No way would I trust this group to monitor our election fairly. Wonder whats going to happen when GWB wins what kind of alligations will be made by this group.
How do ya'll feel about this ? (2004 election related)
