ODIHR opens mission to observe mid-term congressional elections in United States
WASHINGTON D.C., 3 October 2018 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today officially opened a limited election observation mission for the mid-term congressional elections to be held in the United States on 6 November. The mission's deployment follows an invitation from the United States Government.
The mission is led by Tana de Zulueta and consists of 13 international experts based in Washington D.C. and 36 long-term observers to be deployed throughout the country in teams of two, from 10 October. The observers are drawn from 16 OSCE participating States.
Observers will assess these elections for compliance with international obligations and standards for democratic elections, including the commitments agreed to by all the OSCE participating States, and with national legislation. The mission will analyse the legal framework and its implementation and will follow campaign activities, the work of the election administration and relevant government bodies, including voter registration, and the resolution of election disputes. As part of its observation, the ODIHR mission will analyse and assess the media coverage of the campaign.
The mission will meet with representatives of relevant federal and state authorities and of political parties, as well as with representatives of the judiciary, civil society and the media. For election day, the mission will join efforts with a delegation from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA).
The mission will publish one interim report in the course of its work. A statement of preliminary findings and conclusions will be presented at a press conference the day after the elections. A final report will be published approximately two months after the completion of the election process.
As a participating State in the OSCE, the United States has committed itself to conducting elections in line with OSCE standards and inviting international election observers. ODIHR has observed and assessed elections in the United States since 2002.
For further information, please contact Pietro Tesfamariam, Mission Media Analyst at (+1) 202 553 1247
or
Thomas Rymer, ODIHR Spokesperson, at +48 609 522 266 or [email protected].
Additional information on the observation mission for the United States general elections can be found at: http://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/usa.