OSCE Chairman-in-Office appoints Kimmo Kiljunen Special Envoy for Elections

Press release 95/2008
26 March, 2008

The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva, appointed today Kimmo Kiljunen, a Finnish member of parliament, as his Special Envoy on election-related issues.

The Special Envoy will gather views on elections and election observation, and examine possibilities to develop the OSCE’s election-related activities.

As OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Finland has emphasized the implementation of OSCE commitments related to elections and election observation by the 56 participating States. Minister Kanerva has encouraged dialogue on democratic elections and international observation of elections in the OSCE area.

Special Envoy Kiljunen has long experience with the OSCE and its election observation activities. He has led several OSCE election observation missions, most recently for the parliamentary elections held in Kyrgyzstan last December. He is a Vice President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and its Special Representative for Central Asia.

Additional information: Juha Kirstilä, Press Attaché to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 9 1605 5012, mobile tel. +358 40 552 8200, Ambassador Aleksi Härkönen, Head of the Finnish OSCE Chairmanship Task Force, tel. +358 9 160 55496, mobile tel. + 358 400 330 406