Election System of Chechen Republic is Ready for Referendum

On Saturday at a press conference in Grozny Abdul-Kerim Arsakhanov, chairman of the election commission, stated that the election system of the Chechen republic was 100% ready for referendum scheduled to be held on 23 March.

Arsakhanov also reported that 416 polling stations would be opened on the voting day in Chechnya, 16 of them being stationed in military garrisons. All polling stations are equipped with telephones and everything necessary.

According to Arsakhanov, 2 polling stations would be opened in the territory of Ingushetia (an adjacent republic) in tented camps for forced migrants.

The chairman of the election commission stressed that journalists would be granted unimpeded access to all polling stations, including the ones in military garrisons and prisons.

Arsakhanov reported that a large group of observers and about one hundred of journalists would arrive in Chechnya to monitor the voting process. Among them would be representatives of the OSCE, Organization Islamic Conference, Organization of Solidarity of the Peoples of Asia and Africa, as well as representatives from Malaysia, Indonesia, Yemen and Japan.

Arsakhanov stressed that everyone who expressed the wish to monitor the voting process or to report on it, would be granted such an opportunity and accreditation wasn't denied to any mass media representatives.