OSCE/ODIHR opens election observation mission in Ukraine
KYIV, 11 June 2019 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today formally opened an election observation mission (EOM) for the 21 July early parliamentary elections in Ukraine. The mission’s deployment follows an invitation from the country’s authorities.
The mission is led by Ambassador Albert Jónsson and consists of a core team of 19 experts based in Kyiv. ODIHR has requested that OSCE participating States provide 100 long-term observers, who will be deployed throughout the country in international teams of two from 18 June. In addition, the Office will request that the participating States provide 750 short-term observers, who will arrive several days before election day.
The mission will assess the election’s compliance with OSCE commitments and other international obligations and standards for democratic elections, as well as with national legislation. Observers will closely monitor voter registration, candidate registration, campaign activities, the work of the election administration and relevant government bodies, election-related legislation and its implementation, and the resolution of election-related disputes. The mission will also monitor media coverage of the campaign.
In the course of its observation, the mission will meet with representatives of state authorities, political parties, civil society, the media and the international community.
On election day itself, the ODIHR EOM will join efforts with delegations from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly to monitor the opening of polling stations, voting, the counting of ballots and the tabulation of results.
The mission will publish an interim report in the course of its work. The day after the election, a statement of preliminary findings and conclusions will be issued at a press conference. ODIHR will issue a final report on the observation approximately two months after the end of the election process.
The ODIHR election observation mission, the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission and the Office of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine operate separately and independently under their own mandates.
For further information, please visit https://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/ukraine/422585
or contact Francesca Boggeri, Media Analyst with the Election Observation Mission: +380 67 164 45 76 (Kyiv mobile), [email protected]
or
Katya Andrusz, ODIHR Spokesperson, at +48 609 522 266 (Warsaw mobile), or at [email protected].