Text of report by the Kyrgyz newspaper 'Vecherniy Bishkek'

"The USA calls on Kyrgyzstan to follow OSCE recommendations on the election
process." `Vecherniy Bishkek' has received a news release under this
headline with a package of information material distributed by the US
embassy in Kyrgyzstan. The news release was issued by the US State
Department's Office for International Information Programmes.

It says that, according to a statement by US State Department spokesman
James Rubin on 28th February, the OSCE's preliminary statement on the
results of the first round of the elections in Kyrgyzstan is "balanced and
objective" and that the United States share the concern expressed by the
OSCE. James Rubin's statement says: "Having noted certain changes for the
better, the OSCE, however, noted a number of obvious violations during the
election process concerning, among other things, access to the mass media,
bias coverage by state media and interference by executive and judicial
officials."

Further it says that the OSCE is satisfied with the work of independent mass
media, public organization and international observers, who played a key
role in preventing major breaches during the voting. The statement calls on
the Kyrgyz government to use the opportunity to fulfil its commitments
within the OSCE by ensuring that all candidates standing in the second
round of the parliamentary elections on 12th March had the opportunity
without hindrance to contest free, fair and transparent elections.[p3]

Source: 'Vecherniy Bishkek', Bishkek, in Russian 03 Mar 00 p*
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