Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The Commonwealth of Independent States is developing a draft statement on the protection of the electoral rights of citizens and guarantees of the electoral sovereignty of states. The document was discussed at a meeting of the expert group today in an online format, BelTA learned from the press service of the CIS Executive Committee. 

The meeting was attended by representatives of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and the CIS Executive Committee.

At the meeting, the experts finalized and generally agreed on the text of the statement. The document is proposed for adoption by the Council of Heads of State of the Commonwealth.

The press service noted that the initiator and developer of the document was the Russian side. The statement is aimed at strengthening public confidence in elections and referendums by increasing the openness and transparency of electoral procedures, developing a constructive, equal and respectful dialogue on fundamental electoral issues that determine the standards of modern democratic elections, exchanging best practices and interaction of the CIS Executive Committee and the IPA CIS with other monitoring missions.

The adoption of the document will also contribute to the expansion and deepening of cooperation between the central electoral bodies of the CIS states, the development of institutions of public and international observation.