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Opening the conference, the President Putin said that the electoral legal system might serve as a cover for the anti-democratic nature of the state when the system is not integrated into truly democratic institutions of the entire society. In his opinion, Moscow was chosen to host the conference in recognition of Russia’s achievements in establishing an efficient and democratic electoral system.

According to Mr Putin, many positive changes in the country are due to efficient and regular elections, which are becoming a basic condition for securing the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens. The President said that the initiatives for harmonising approaches in the sphere of the electoral law, in particular the draft European Convention on Standards of Democratic Election and Voting Rights and Freedoms, hold promise: they fit logically into the process of European countries’ legal cooperation and rule out the use of double standards in assessing the democratic nature and freedom of elections.

In all, representatives of 34 countries, including heads of electoral bodies of 18 ACEEEO member countries, their colleagues from Italy, Spain, Britain, the CIS and other countries, and also representatives of the UN, OSCE, the Council of Europe and other influential international organisations, took part in the ACEEEO conference.