–NO OSCE ELECTION MONITORS

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has decided not to send observers to monitor Chechnya’s December 7 election of a new representative in the federal Duma. A November 17 report by the state controlled Interfax news agency emphasized concerns about the observers’ physical security, but also acknowledged vaguely that Robert Barry of the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights had said that his colleagues were (in the words of Interfax) “concerned about some aspects of the election campaign.”

–FEW REFERENDUM BENEFITS FOR CITIZENS