| Nov. 6, 2008--OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly President Joao Soares (Portugal) and Vice-President Pia
Christmas-Moeller (Denmark) reported on their election observation
mission. Soares and Christmas-Moeller generally lauded the
conduct of the
election, although they did express concern about long lines ("lack of
capacity"). The mission, comprising about 80 parliamentarians,
deployed to nine states (FL, NC, VA, MD, NH, OH, MO, CO and NM).
The OSCE PA statement described the election as "a convincing
demonstration of the country's commitment to democracy." "In a
highly competitive environment, the vote clearly reflected the will of
the people, and only minor problems were observed by international
parliamentarians monitoring the elections in nine key states," the
statement concluded. |
