A meeting of the Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the CIS (IPA CIS) has been held in the city of St Petersburg of the Russian Federation. Speaker of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova has taken part in the event.

Speaker Sahiba Gafarova stated in her speech at the meeting her thoughts related to the topics discussed. As she was talking about Item 3 of the agenda of the meeting, she remarked that monitoring concerned with elections and referenda in the CIS Member Nations was one of the operating staples of the Assembly. The Speaker of the Milli Majlis observed that elections ranked amongst the most significant events in any country’s life in that they defined its future. An objective monitoring mission present at any election plays a tremendous role in the assessment of the degree of the election’s transparency and democratic standards. As Sahiba Gafarova emphasised, the Assembly monitoring units’ attendance of elections in our countries is not merely a monitoring mission but, first and foremost, a manifestation of solidarity and mutual support.

Commenting also on the outcomes of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly international monitoring missions of the extraordinary elections to the Joğorqu Keñeş of the Kyrgyz Republic as well as of the new Constitution adoption referendum in the Republic of Kazakhstan, she recalled the active participation of the Members of the Milli Majlis in both monitoring assignations.

Sahiba Gafarova mentioned with contentment Deputy Speaker of the Milli Majlis Ziyafet Asgarov having acted as Co-ordinator of the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly monitoring group that had followed the referendum conducted in the brotherly Kazakhstan.

A number of organisational matters and agenda items were discussed at the meeting; relevant decisions were ultimately made.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis