The OSCE's announcement that it would dispatch a team of 12 international observers over a three-week period comes on the heels of a parliamentary committee's decision to deny three minor parties permission to take part in the vote.

Last Thursday, the German parliament's election committee refused to give official approval to the Free Union party, the senior citizen Gray Party and the satirical party, "Die Partei," to put their names on the ballot due to application irregularities.

All three parties are extremely small, with the largest, the Free Union Party of former Christian Social Union maverick Gabriele Pauli, fielding only six candidates.

OSCE invited to observe the vote

Newspaper reports in Germany claimed that the OSCE decided to monitor the German election because of this decision, but at its Vienna headquarters, Jens-Hagen Eschenbaecher, the spokesman for the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the OSCE's election-monitoring body, said "the move had nothing to do with the decision of the electoral committee."

A variety of hurdles to exclude splinter parties from elections exist in 34 European countries to prevent parliamentary gridlock and political chaos.

"It's the first time we're sending a mission to Germany," Eschenbaecher said. "Germany was the only big member state from Europe where we haven't sent any observers so far." He also stressed that the initial idea to monitor the German election had come at the invitation of Berlin.

Similar missions in the past have covered votes in Britain, France, the United States and Switzerland, Eschenbaecher said, adding that after the election the OSCE would publish a report on its findings which would include comments on the election campaign, media coverage and the legal framework.

Decision "based on the rule of law"

The head of Germany's Federal Election Commission, Roderich Egeler, said his office, which is responsible for conducting the country's elections, was looking forward to the OSCE's visit and "would do all it could to support the observer mission."

Egeler defended the parliamentary committee decision to ban the three parties, saying that the group "based its findings on the rule of law." He also said the current debate and criticism was only natural and "an expression of a living democracy where existing laws are constantly discussed."

gb/dpa/AFP/AP

Editor: Chuck Penfold