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Dr.
Solomon Passy, Bulgarian Minister of Foreign Affairs
and Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE. Prior to taking
up a political career, Solomon Passy was an academic
at the St. Kliment Ohridski University in Sofia
and at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. He holds
a PhD in Mathematical Logic and Computer Science.
Under the communist regime, from 1985 he was closely
involved in the dissident movement. In 1989 he founded
Bulgaria's Green Party as its first spokesman, remaining
an active member until 1992.
He
is strongly committed to civic and ecological issues,
being an active member of several NGOs, such as
the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds
and the St. Cyril and Methodius International Foundation.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A team of international
observers will monitor the presidential election in November,
according to the U.S. State Department.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe was invited to monitor the election by the State
Department. The observers will come from the OSCE's Office
for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.
It will be the first time such a team
has been present for a U.S. presidential election.
"The U.S. is obliged to invite us,
as all OSCE countries should," spokeswoman Urdur
Gunnarsdottir said. "It's not legally binding, but
it's a political commitment. They signed a document 10
years ago to ask OSCE to observe elections."
Thirteen ultra left-wing Democratic members
of the House of Representatives, raising the specter of
possible civil rights violations that they said took place
in Florida and elsewhere in the 2000 election, wrote to
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in July, asking him
to send observers.
After Annan rejected their request, saying
the administration must make the application, the Democrats
asked Secretary of State Colin Powell to do so.
The issue was hotly debated in the House,
and Republicans got an amendment to a foreign aid bill
that barred federal funds from being used for the United
Nations to monitor U.S. elections, The Associated Press
reported.
In a letter dated July 30 and released
last week, Assistant Secretary of State Paul Kelly told
the Democrats about the invitation to OSCE, without mentioning
the U.N. issue.
"I am pleased that Secretary Powell
is as committed as I am to a fair and democratic process,"
said Democratic Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, who
spearheaded the effort to get U.N. observers.
 "The
presence of monitors will assure Americans that America
cares about their votes and it cares about its standing
in the world," she said in a news release.
Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee of California
agreed.
"This represents a step in the right
direction toward ensuring that this year's elections are
fair and transparent," she said.
"I am pleased that the State Department
responded by acting on this need for international monitors.
We sincerely hope that the presence of the monitors will
make certain that every person's voice is heard, every
person's vote is counted, and counted twice if that is
what it takes to get Bush out of office."
 OSCE,
the world's largest regional security organization, will
send a preliminary mission to Washington in September
to assess the size, scope, logistics and cost of the mission,
Gunnarsdottir said.
The organization, which counts among its
missions conflict prevention and postconflict rehabilitation,
will then determine how many observers are required and
where in the United States they will be sent.
"OSCE-participating [nations] agreed
in 1990 to observe elections in one another's countries.
The OSCE routinely monitors elections within its 55-state
membership, including Europe, Eurasia, Canada and the
United States," a State Department spokesman said.
The spokesman said the United States does
not have any details on the size and composition of the
observers or what countries will provide them. Possible
member states who will send monitors include: Albania,
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, The Russian Federation,
San Marino, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
OSCE, based in Vienna, Austria, has sent
more than 10,000 personnel to monitor more than 150 elections
and referenda in more than 30 countries during the past
decade, Gunnarsdottir said.
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