ODIHR opens special election assessment mission for the European Parliament elections
BRUSSELS, 17 May 2024 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today opened a Special Election Assessment Mission (SEAM) for the European Parliament elections from 6 to 9 June, following an invitation from all 27 EU member states.
The mission is headed by Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir and consists of seven international experts from seven OSCE states based in Brussels from 15 May, as well as ten regional analysts from ten different states who will be deployed in teams of two across the EU from 20 May.
The mission will assess the conduct of the elections for their compliance with OSCE commitments and other international obligations and standards for democratic elections, as well as with national legislation across all 27 EU member states.
In the course of the mission, the observers will visit 20 EU member states: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Spain.
Observers will closely assess a number of specific areas, including the practical implementation of European and national election legislation, the work of the election administration, voter and candidate registration, the political environment, campaign activities, including online, party and campaign finance and related controls, the media and their coverage of the election, participation of underrepresented groups, including women, youth, national minorities, and voters and candidates with disabilities, as well as the participation of citizen and international observers.
Meetings with representatives of European and state authorities and political parties, civil society, the media and the international community form an integral part of the observation.
The observers will not carry out any comprehensive observation of the voting, counting and tabulation on election day, but mission members will visit a limited number of polling stations on all election days.
The day after the elections, a statement of preliminary findings and conclusions will be presented at a press conference. A final report containing an assessment of the entire election process and recommendations for future elections will be published some months after the elections.
For further information on ODIHR’s election observation activities, please visit: Elections | OSCE.
Media contacts:
Egor Tilpunov, Media Analyst: egor.tilpunov@odihr.eu or +32466282135
Katya Andrusz, ODIHR Spokesperson: +48 609 522 266 or katya.andrusz@odihr.pl.