International Organisations to Send Observers to Referendum in Chechnya

About forty observers from international organisations will monitor the referendum on the Chechen Republic's constitution, to be held on March 23, Russia's Central Election Committee (CEC) chairman Alexander Veshnyakov told journalists on Friday.

According to him, to date about a dozen CIS representatives have been accredited already. "According to my preliminary information, the OSCE may today decide to send its experts too," Veshnyakov said. He recalled that early in March an OSCE group had visited Chechnya and concluded it was necessary to send its experts to watch the referendum.

The CEC head also added that about 20 representatives of Islamic organisations were expected in the Chechen Republic. In addition, representatives of political parties of Russia, of domestic and foreign media would also go there.