Early Parliamentary Elections, 26 March 2017

International Election Observation Mission press conference (27 March 2017, Sofia)

Mission at a glance

• Head of Mission: Mr. Roman Jakic (Slovenia)

• Core team of 11 staff from 11 participating States

• 8 long-term observers to be deployed throughout the country

Mission schedule

22 February: Opening press conference

27 February: Deployment of long-term observers

26 March:      Election day

27 March:      Press conference on preliminary findings and conclusions

1 April:           Departure of long-term observers

6 April:           Departure of the core team

Following an official invitation, the OSCE/ODIHR has deployed a Limited Election Observation Mission (LEOM) to observe the 26 March early parliamentary elections.  

Long-term observation

The OSCE/ODIHR LEOM, headed by Mr. Roman Jakic, consists of 11 international experts based in Sofia. In addition, 8 long-term observers will be deployed throughout the country from 27 February.

The mission will assess these elections for their compliance with OSCE commitments and other international obligations and standards for democratic elections, as well as with national legislation. Observers will follow candidate registration, campaign activities, the work of the election administration and relevant state bodies, implementation of the legislative framework, and the resolution of election disputes. As part of the observation, the LEOM will conduct a comprehensive monitoring of the media.

Election Day

While the mission will visit a limited number of polling stations on election day, systematic observation of voting, counting or tabulation of results on election day is not envisaged.

The day after the elections, ODIHR will issue a statement of preliminary findings and conclusions at a press conference. A final report on the observation of the entire electoral process will be issued approximately eight weeks after the end of the observation mission.

Co-operation with Other Partners

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is planning to deploy an observer delegation for these elections.

Previous elections

The OSCE/ODIHR has observed six parliamentary elections in Bulgaria since 1997, most recently the 2014 early parliamentary elections.