Positives and shortcomings in electoral legislation and practice in OSCE area highlighted in OSCE/ODIHR review

Election laws and their application in the OSCE participating States demonstrate many positive elements, but there is a number of areas where improvements are needed to meet commitments those countries have undertaken, and international standards, says a review presented at an OSCE event in Vienna on 31 October 2013.

The two-day event was organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the 2013 Ukrainian OSCE Chairmanship.

The “Review of Electoral Legislation and Practice in OSCE Participating States” provides a synthesis of the findings of ODIHR election reports from 2010 to 2012 and covers 55 elections. The review seeks to analyze the election reports findings against the commitments the states have made, as well as other international standards for democratic elections and good electoral practice.

“There is a need for continuous dialogue to strengthen confidence in the OSCE community on election-related issues,” said Ambassador Ihor Propochuk, Chairperson of the OSCE Permanent Council and Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the OSCE, in his opening remarks. “The synthesis of this information in a single document provides all of us as participating States of the OSCE with an excellent reference point to see specific areas where improvements are needed.”

Experts Christina Binder, Armen Mazmanyan and Nikolai Vulchanov were authors of the review. They provided a summary of the review, after which the event participants from various OSCE States had an opportunity to discuss it.

The second day of the event will focus on steps taken by participating States to improve electoral legislation and practice.

“Electoral processes in all countries can always be improved. The external assessment and recommendations offered by ODIHR are designed to and may contribute to this,” said Ambassador Janez Lenarčič, Director of ODIHR. “There have been several recent good examples of participating States improving their electoral process and our Office has been privileged to assist in many of these cases.”

The review, produced by ODIHR on a request earlier this year by the Ukrainian Chairmanship, can be found at: //www.osce.org/odihr/elections/107073