Election recommendations in Spain: ODIHR experts present their final report

Election experts from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) presented their final report on Spain’s 2023 and 2019 early parliamentary elections in Madrid and discussed their key findings and recommendations.

“We welcome the steps taken by Spain to address ODIHR recommendations, and we look forward to further progress on the areas that remain,” said Lusine Badalyan, ODIHR Senior Election Adviser. “ODIHR stands ready to assist the authorities in working towards full implementation of our recommendations, improving the election process for all voters in the future.”

ODIHR experts discussed recent efforts by key oversight bodies to address ODIHR recommendations: improving accessibility and participation of people with disabilities, increasing women's participation through improved gender parity rules, broadening participation in the public broadcaster’s campaign debates beyond parliamentary parties, and addressing disinformation and manipulative content.

During meetings with representatives of Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Co-operation, Ministry of Interior, Central Election Commission, the National Commission on Markets and Competition, and the public broadcaster, ODIHR experts also outlined potential areas for ODIHR’s engagement with national institutions and offered assistance to bring the electoral process closer in line with OSCE commitments and international standards, including legal reviews and sharing of best practices.

ODIHR's election observation assesses a country's efforts to implement previous recommendations by changes to legislation, procedures, and practices. For Spain, ODIHR election observation activities evaluated the follow-up to recommendations from the 2015 and 2019 early parliamentary elections and concluded that two recommendations had been fully implemented, five had been mostly implemented, and three had been partially addressed, while the remainder have yet to be carried out.

Further details can be found in the ODIHR Electoral Recommendations Database. All OSCE participating States have committed to following up promptly on ODIHR's election assessments and recommendations.