ODIHR publishes election-related handbooks and guidelines in Western Balkan languages

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has released translations of five publications on different aspects of elections into six Western Balkan languages.

Three handbooks, entitled Follow-up of Electoral Recommendations, Observation of Voter Registration and Media Monitoring for Election Observation Missions, respectively, as well as two sets of guidelines, Reviewing a Legal Framework for Elections and Population Registration, have been translated into Albanian, Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, Macedonian and Serbian.

"The translation of these publications not only makes them available to a broader audience, but also helps increase familiarity with ODIHR’s election observation methodology, and in doing so, enhances its transparency,” said Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, Director of ODIHR. "This will help to facilitate the transfer of ODIHR expertise, tools and methodologies in order to support electoral reform efforts across the Western Balkans."

The translations were produced as part of the project Support to Elections in the Western Balkans, which is funded by the European Union and the Austrian Development Agency.

All OSCE participating States have committed themselves to following up promptly on ODIHR election assessments and recommendations. The translated publications build upon ODIHR’s existing support to participating States in following up on such recommendations.