Baku, October 2, AZERTAC

The Central Election Commission has revealed the number of foreign observers and journalists arriving in Kazakhstan to monitor the October 6 referendum on the nuclear power plant construction, Kazinform News Agency reported.

According to the CEC Chairman Mukhtar Yerman, a total of 177 observers representing 30 countries and four major international organizations have been accredited for the event, Kazinform News Agency reports.

In his words, the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent invitations to five international organizations to monitor the referendum. They are the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Organization of Turkic States, and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia. Of them, only the OSCE said it would not send its observers due to heavy workload.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Roman Vassilenko said that 162 foreign journalists from 38 media outlets of 14 countries have been permanently accredited with the MFA.

“They have the right to observe the referendum, however only 38 foreign journalists got temporary accreditation for the referendum. So, around 200 foreign journalists from 37 countries will monitor the referendum,” he explained.

Meanwhile, a polling station in the Kazakh Embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, is actively preparing for the upcoming republican referendum with more than 300 Kazakhstan citizens registered to vote.