Early Parliamentary Elections, 11 June 2023

Following an invitation to observe the early parliamentary elections in Montenegro scheduled for 11 June 2023, and in accordance with its mandate, ODIHR has deployed an Election Observation Mission (EOM) for these elections.

Long-term Observation

The mission is led by Nina Suomalainen and consists of a core team of 11 experts based in Podgorica. In addition, 12 long-term observers will be deployed throughout the country from 13 May.

The mission will assess whether the elections are held in line with OSCE commitments and other international obligations and standards for democratic elections, as well as with national legislation.

Observers will closely follow fundamental components of the elections such as:

• election-related legislation and its implementation
• the work of election administration
• voter registration
• candidate registration
• campaign activities and financing
• media environment and media coverage of the elections
• the resolution of election-related disputes

The observers will also assess how prior ODIHR election related recommendations have been considered. The ODIHR EOM will also conduct qualitative and quantitative monitoring of media coverage of the election campaign and a limited qualitative and quantitative observation of election campaigns on social networks.

Election Day

ODIHR will request the secondment of 100 short-term observers from OSCE participating States to follow the election day proceedings. The short-term observers will be deployed throughout the country in multinational teams of two which will observe:

• the opening of polling stations
• the voting
• the counting of ballots
• the tabulation of results at all levels.

Co-operation with other partners

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament intend to deploy observer delegations for these elections.

The day after the elections, ODIHR, together with its parliamentary partners, will issue a statement of preliminary findings and conclusions at a press conference. A final report on the observation of the entire electoral process will be issued some months after the end of the election process.

Previous Elections

ODIHR has previously observed 18 elections in Montenegro, most recently the 2023 presidential election.