US government on the parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan

"We welcome the monitoring of the parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe delegations and acknowledge their preliminary assessment that a variety of issues caused this election to fall short of the international standards to which Kazakhstan has committed itself. We look forward to engaging with the new multi-party Parliament as we continue our co-operation with the government and people of Kazakhstan to implement our broad-ranging strategic partnership. We recognize the government's stated ambition to improve the political climate and to conduct more inclusive and transparent elections in line with both its international commitments and the aspirations of the Kazakhstani people. In addition to improving the transparency of operations on election day, we hope that the Government of Kazakhstan follows through on its stated goal of strengthening the overall conditions necessary for genuine political pluralism." (Press Statement, state.gov - 16.01.2011).