OSCE/ODIHR experts to remain in Afghanistan for second round of elections

WARSAW, 21 October 2009 - An expert group deployed by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) to support election stakeholders in the presidential elections in Afghanistan will remain in the country for the second round of the elections, scheduled for 7 November.

The ODIHR kept a small presence in Afghanistan to follow developments after the release of preliminary results for the first round and is now increasing the number of experts to seven in the run-up to the second round.

The expert team, led by Toralv Nordbo, was deployed in July at the request of the OSCE's Permanent Council, which tasked the ODIHR with assisting Afghanistan's authorities and the international community in their efforts to organize the elections. ODIHR also was tasked to prepare a report on the electoral process with recommendations on how to improve the conduct of future elections.

The ODIHR experts will continue to offer advice to election stakeholders in Afghanistan, including election administration bodies and domestic observer groups, in close co-ordination with other international actors.

In the coming weeks, the experts will follow the final preparations for the second round, election day proceedings, the count and tabulation of results and the complaints process.

There will be no public ODIHR statement immediately after the second-round election day. A report with the experts' findings and recommendations will be presented to the Afghan government and to the OSCE participating States several weeks after the completion of the electoral process.

Recommendations will cover all areas of the electoral process and will particularly focus on how to build sustainable structures for the organization of elections, how to further improve the voter registration system, how to strengthen domestic observation and how to create a stronger legal framework for elections.

Afghanistan is not a participating State of the OSCE, but has a special status as one of the Organization's Partners for Co-operation.

ODIHR previously sent election support teams to Afghanistan for elections in 2004 and 2005.