Election campaigns are getting into high gear in Central Asian countries. Parliamentary elections in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are slated for December, in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan for next February. Needless to say, authorities of these countries are doing their honest best to present what is happening as another phase of democratization of society. The OSCE will be the major foreign observer at the elections as the organization that invested a great deal in development of democracy and free market institutions in these countries in the last several years.

Ex-president of Finland Marti Ahtisaari is the OSCE chairman's personal envoy in Central Asia. He visits the region frequently. "I believe that there are lots of common features to these countries because all of them are states in a period of transition to democracy and free market," Ahtisaari said in an interview with Radio Echo of Moscow when promoted to the post. Commonalty of features dictates commonalty of demands - in theory. The real state of affairs is quite different.

On a visit to Uzbekistan in early October Ahtisaari criticized official Tashkent for the fact that not a single party of the opposition was going to run for the parliament. "I'm sorry that a broad representation of various political forces in the election is impossible at this point," Ahtisaari said at a meeting with the Central Election Commission of Uzbekistan. "Several parties of the opposition applied for registration but were denied it."

Ahtisaari's behavior on a visit to Turkmenistan in October was quite different. President Saparmurat Niyazov announced that he did not intend to put up with international scrutiny of the election because, he said, "leaders of Turkmenistan are not promoting democratic processes while being told what to do by others." In short, the Turkmenbashi made it clear that he did not want any outsiders at all. Commenting on this decision, Ahtisaari said that the situation being what it was, the OSCE should not be "insistent because transformation of society requires time and patience, particularly when establishment of a national state is at stake. Flexibility is needed."

Benevolence is undeniable. It is even understandable. "Ahtisaari, a representative of the organization that regards Turkmenistan as a "black hole in the sphere of human rights", takes a keen interest in the Akhaltekin racers and their prices. That's probably why we cannot expect much by way of objectiveness from him," Khudaiberdy Orazov said. A prominent Turkmen opposition leader, he is forced to live in Stockholm nowadays. "As a matter of fact, this is how (almost verbatim!) Niyazov himself justifies the Turkmen regime - with its repressions, personality cult, and impoverishment of the population. Try as I might, I cannot imagine a worse discredit of OSCE principles."