Presidential election, 23 April 2017

Mission at a glance

Three experts from three participating States, based in Paris.

Mission schedule

• 18 April: Arrival of the Expert Team

• 23 April: Election day (first round)

• 7 May: Election day (second round)

• 10 May: Departure of the Expert Team

Following an invitation from the authorities of France, and based on the findings and conclusions of a Needs Assessment Mission (NAM), ODIHR has deployed an Election Expert Team (EET) for the 23 April presidential election.

The NAM assessed the pre-election environment and preparations for the presidential and parliamentary elections in order to recommend whether to deploy an OSCE/ODIHR election-related activity for either or both forthcoming elections, and if so, what types of activities best meet the identified needs. The NAM recommended to deploy an expert team for the upcoming presidential election.

Mission Activities

The EET began its work on 18 April and includes three international experts, drawn from three OSCE participating States.

The EET will assess the electoral process for compliance with OSCE commitments, other international obligations and standards for democratic elections, as well as national legislation. Experts will look at the campaign finance system, oversight of media regulations and the conduct of the campaign.

In line with ODIHR’s methodology, the EET will not carry out systematic or comprehensive observation of voting, counting, or tabulation on election day. Team members will, however, visit a small number of polling stations across the country to follow election day procedures.

The team, which will remain in France until 10 May, will issue a report approximately two months after the completion of the electoral process.

Previous Elections

The OSCE/ODIHR previously assessed three elections in France, most recently the 2012 parliamentary and 2007 presidential elections.