Established in 1973 as a means of encouraging dialogue between East and West against the back-drop of the Cold War, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation In Europe (OSCE) is now the world's largest regional security organisation.

It currently consists of 56 member states - from Armenia to Uzbekistan - but also maintains partnerships with states in North Africa, the Middle East and and Asia.

The OSCE exists to promote democracy and good governance as a means of creating peace and stability. Activities undertaken include the monitoring of elections, borders and media freedoms; advising and assisting on conflict prevention, terrorism, policing and crisis management; and promoting economic development, human rights, equality and arms control.

More information can be found at www.osce.org  

Kazakhstan Election Monitoring - August 2007  

Linda travelled to Kazakhstan in August 2007 to serve as a short-term monitor for elections to the lower house of parliament. She was deployed to Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, and spent the actual day of the election based in Medueski District, visiting nine different polling stations.   

Linda's observations, together with those of other members of the delegattion, were fed back to produce the OSCE's report. This concluded that although progress had been made since the previous election, there were still areas for improvment - including limitations on the right to seek office and irregularities in the vote count.