OSCE/ODIHR opens assessment mission for Uzbekistan's parliamentary elections

TASHKENT, 3 December 2009 - The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today opened an election assessment mission for the parliamentary elections to be held in Uzbekistan on 27 December. The deployment follows an invitation from the Uzbek authorities.

The mission is led by Ambassador Jolanda Brunetti (Italy) and comprises 14 international experts and support staff from 13 OSCE participating States.

The experts will assess and report on the overall framework for the conduct of elections in Uzbekistan, and the implementation of previous ODIHR recommendations. The mission will focus on the legal framework for the election, the political campaign, and the work of the election administration at central and district levels, as well as the complaints and appeals process. It will also assess the media environment and the coverage of the elections by the media.

In the coming weeks, the experts will meet with government authorities, candidates, political parties, the judiciary, civil society and the media, both in the capital, Tashkent, and in other regions.

ODIHR will not carry out a systematic or comprehensive observation of the voting, counting and tabulation on election day, but the team of analysts plans to visit a few polling stations across the country to follow procedures.
The election assessment mission will stay in Uzbekistan until 31 December. ODIHR will issue a final report approximately two months after the completion of the election process.