OSCE begins monitoring of US elections

WASHINGTON, 10 October 2008 - The OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today opened a limited election observation mission to monitor the 4 November elections in the United States of America.

The deployment of the mission follows an invitation from the United States government. As a participating State of the OSCE, the United States has committed itself to conducting elections in line with OSCE standards and inviting international election observers.

The ODIHR mission, headed by Ambassador Audrey Glover of the United Kingdom, includes a core team of 13 international experts with the head office in Washington, D.C., and 48 long-term observers deployed in teams of two around the country. The observers are drawn from 20 OSCE participating States.

The mission will assess the upcoming elections in the context of OSCE commitments and other international standards for democratic elections, as well as national legislation. The observers will focus mainly on federal legislation and its implementation, election reform issues, the election campaign and the media, electronic voting, access of observers, and other issues including voter registration, voter identification, and voting rights.

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly will deploy an observation mission to observe election day proceedings. ODIHR long-term observers will also visit polling stations around the country on election day.

ODIHR has observed or assessed a number of elections in the United States, including the 2004 presidential election and the 2002 and 2006 congressional elections.