Parliamentary Elections, 22 May 2016

On 3 February 2016, the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Cyprus to the OSCE invited the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) to observe the 22 May parliamentary elections. The OSCE/ODIHR undertook a Needs Assessment Mission (NAM) to the Republic of Cyprus from 8 to 11 March. The NAM included Lusine Badalyan, OSCE/ODIHR Senior Election Adviser, and Oleksii Lychkovakh, OSCE/ODIHR Election Adviser.

The purpose of the mission was to assess the pre-election environment and the preparations for the parliamentary elections. Based on this assessment, the NAM was to recommend whether to deploy an OSCE/ODIHR election-related activity for the forthcoming elections, and if so, what type of activity best meets the identified needs. Meetings were held with officials from state institutions, election administration, as well as with representatives of political parties, media and civil society. A list of meetings is annexed to this report.