News and press releases

Albania’s Electoral Code provides a thorough technical foundation for democratic elections, according to a Joint Opinion by ODIHR and the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission released on 19 December 2011. However, it says that recent experience in the implementation of the Code since its adoption in 2008 shows that a number of improvements are still required...

ASTANA, 13 December 2011- The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today opened an election observation mission for the 15 January early parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan...

CHIŞINĂU, 6 December 2011 – Draft regulations on the legal framework governing election coverage and political campaigning in the media during the election period were presented today at a roundtable meeting in Chişinău held by the OSCE Mission to Moldova and the non-governmental Association for Participatory Democracy...

The Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), Ambassador Janez Lenarčič, gave a briefing to journalists on the margins of the OSCE Ministerial council in Vilnius on 6 December 2011.

Civil society in the OSCE Mediterranean Partner States could benefit from greater OSCE engagement in strengthening capacity at a time of rapid change and transition in the Middle East and North Africa, participants said at the end of a two-day conference in Vilnius on 5 December 2011...

The parliamentary elections held on 4 December in Croatia took place in a pluralistic environment and were administered in a professional and transparent manner, but further steps should be taken to improve the process, the OSCE/ODIHR limited election observation mission concluded in a preliminary report...

MOSCOW, 5 December 2011 – Despite the lack of a level playing field during the Russian State Duma elections, voters took advantage of their right to express their choice, the international observers concluded in a statement issued today...