Review of Electoral Legislation and Practice in OSCE Participating States, 15 October 2013

On 25 January 2013, the Chairperson of the OSCE Permanent Council requested the Director of ODIHR to conduct an extra-budgetary project that would review major areas of electoral legislation and practice in the OSCE participating States in view of their implementation of the provisions of the 1990 OSCE Copenhagen Document. ODIHR agreed to undertake this review on the basis of ODIHR election-related reports published in the years 2010, 2011 and 2012, analyzed against OSCE commitments (principally the 1990 OSCE Copenhagen Document) as well as other international standards for democratic elections and good electoral practice. Given the limited resources, the selected timeframe ensures that the review covers as many participating States as possible and that the information drawn upon would be the most up-to-date and minimize duplication.