Parliamentary Elections, 27 April 2013

Following an official invitation from the Permanent OSCE Mission of Iceland and based on the findings and conclusions of an OSCE/ODIHR Needs Assessment Mission, the OSCE/ODIHR has deployed an election assessment mission (EAM) for the 27 April 2013 parliamentary elections.

The OSCE/ODIHR EAM, headed by Ambassador Jorge Fuentes, began work on 16 April. The EAM includes four international staff, drawn from as many OSCE participating States.

The mission will assess these elections for compliance with OSCE commitments and other international standards for democratic elections, as well as national legislation. Observers will, in particular, look into issues such as the legal framework, political party and campaign finance, as well as media coverage of the campaign.

In line with ODIHR’s methodology for assessment missions, the mission will not carry out systematic or comprehensive observation of the voting, counting and tabulation on election day. Mission members will, however, visit a small number of polling stations to follow election day procedures.

The mission will remain in Iceland until 30 April and will issue a final report approximately two months after the completion of the election process.

Previous Elections

The OSCE/ODIHR previously assessed the parliamentary elections in Iceland in 2009.