Russian MPs to monitor US midterm elections as part of OSCE Parliamentary Assembly mission

Two parliamentarians from the Russian State Duma lower house of parliament will be part of a mission of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to monitor the midterm elections in the US due on November 6, a State Duma source told TASS on Thursday.

The two deputies, Artyom Turov (United Russia Party) and Alexei Korniyenko (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) "are dispatched to monitor the congressional midterm elections as part of a mission of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly," the source said.

Korniyenko, for his part, told TASS that they are flying to Washington on Friday. "We will be working in Washington and the bordering state of Maryland," he specified.

When asked about the possibility of bilateral contacts with US parliamentarians, he said they are not envisaged by the code for the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly observers. He said separate meetings, interviews, etc. were not allowed, "as this is not a bilateral visit, but a trip as part of the mission".

The legislator said contacts with local political forces would be possible only if their representatives themselves said they wanted to meet with the mission and discuss some issues.

The midterm elections in the US will take place on November 6. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 out of the 100 seats in the Senate will be up for grabs. Likewise, 36 states and three territories will hold gubernatorial elections on November 6. They are called ‘midterms’ because they occur midway between presidential elections.