OSCE elections office to assess parliamentary poll in Italy

WARSAW/ROME, 27 March 2008 - Following an invitation from the Italian authorities, the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has deployed an election assessment mission to Italy for the 13 and 14 April parliamentary elections.

The mission, led by Ambassador Audrey Glover (United Kingdom), includes 11 experts from 11 OSCE participating States.

The mission will assess and report on the overall framework for the conduct of elections in Italy. The experts will analyse the legal framework for the election, the political campaign, the work of the election administration at central and regional levels, as well as the complaints and appeals process. As part of the assessment process, the experts will meet with relevant governmental authorities, candidates, political parties, the judiciary, civil society, and the media.

The assessment mission will also monitor media coverage of the election by major public and private broadcast networks.

ODIHR will not carry out systematic or comprehensive observation of the voting, counting, or tabulation on election day, but the team of experts plans to visit polling stations across the country to follow procedures.

ODIHR will issue a final report after the completion of the election process.