Parliamentary Elections, 23 November 2003
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Mission at a glance
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Head of Mission: Ian Mitchell (Canada)
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7 core staff in Zagreb
- 12 long-term observers deployed to six regional centres
- Core team and long-term observers drawn from 17 OSCE participating States
Mission schedule
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28 Oct.: mission opens with arrival of core team
- 1 Nov.: deployment of long-term observers
- 23 Nov.: election day
- 24 Nov.: release of the statement of preliminary findings and conclusions
The ODIHR deployed an Election Observation Mission to monitor the elections to the Sabor (Croatian parliament) on 23 November 2003.
Long-term observation
The Election Observation Mission, headed by Mr. Ian Mitchell (Canada), includes seven international staff based at the Zagreb head office and 12 long-term observers deployed in the regions. Four of the latter were recruited through a voluntary fund established to diversify the national composition of election observation missions.
The Mission will assess the election process in terms of its compliance with OSCE commitments and international standards for democratic elections and national legislation.
It will focus on the election campaign, the legislative framework and its implementation, the media, the work of the election administration and relevant government bodies, and the complaints and appeals process. The ODIHR will not request short-term observers to monitor the voting at the polling stations on election day.
Previous elections
The ODIHR has observed a number of elections in Croatia since 1995. The ODIHR Final Report on the 2000 parliamentary elections concluded that they marked progress towards meeting the country's commitments for democratic governance as an OSCE participating State.
However, a number of concerns were noted particularly with regard to election-related legislation, the accuracy and transparency of voter registers, media coverage of elections, and the participation of national minorities in elections.
The ODIHR Final Report on the 2000 presidential elections further recommended that the law on presidential elections be amended to provide for party representation on election commissions and to allow for domestic non-partisan observation of elections; it was also recommended that the citizenship law be amended in line with European practice.
The ODIHR Final Report on the 2001 local-government elections concluded that they marked progress towards meeting the international commitments for democratic elections formulated in the 1990 OSCE Copenhagen Document.