Legal Opinions and Comments

This Opinion was prepared in response to a request by the Central Election Commission of Lithuania. The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) conducted this assessment within its mandate to assist OSCE participating States in the implementation of key OSCE commitments in the human dimension.

This Joint Opinion is provided with the aim of assisting the authorities of Uzbekistan, political parties, and civil society in their efforts to bring the legal framework for elections into line with OSCE commitments, Council of Europe’s standards and other international obligations for democratic elections. It was prepared in response to a request from the Chairperson of the Central Election Commission of Uzbekistan addressed to the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and of the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission in July 2018. The Joint Opinion was adopted by the Council for Democratic Elections at its 63rd meeting (Venice, 18 October 2018) and by the Venice Commission at its 116th Plenary Session (Venice, 19-20 October 2018).

This Opinion was prepared by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in response to a request from the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria received by the Office in January 2018.