OSCE supports Municipal Election Commissions in developing training programme for polling station staff
The OSCE Mission to Montenegro organized a training course for senior representatives from the State Election Commission and Municipal Election Commissions on how to train polling station staff on polling station procedures on 21 and 22 November 2019 in Podgorica.
Around 25 representatives from election management bodies on state and local level discussed lessons learned from 2016 and 2018 elections and deliberated on how to improve their work for the upcoming election year.
Đorđije Vukčević, Chairman of the State Election Commission, said that the 2016 training, organized with the assistance of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, created within the State Election Commission a pool of trainers and educators. “The trainers did a good job, as was confirmed in ODIHR reports. This model also worked well in the 2018 elections.” Vukčević added that this workshop was a further opportunity to identify steps necessary to ensure professional administration of the 2020 parliamentary elections, adding that two more OSCE workshops – on media communication and lessons learned – are expected by the end of the year.
The Head of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, Maryse Daviet, said that the Municipal Election Commission presiding officers and secretaries play a central role in the elections. “Your role is vital to ensure that each voter has confidence that their vote is casted in secrecy and counted. It is through your work that citizens will gain confidence in the election process,” said Daviet. She added that the 2020 parliamentary election are drawing near and that polling station presiding officers and staff need to be fully briefed on the rules for these elections. “This workshop is designed to assist Municipal Election Commissions in training polling station staff working at local and general elections in Montenegro,” said Daviet.
Bujar Basha, OSCE Senior Election Adviser, said he was happy with the progress achieved in training polling station staff. “Congratulations to everyone who contributed towards addressing OSCE/ODIHR recommendations in the sphere of training,” said Basha.
The workshop was part of the Mission’s 2019 project on elections that aims to improve the transparency of the work of the State Election Commission.