Early parliamentary elections, 28 April 2019

Following an invitation from the authorities of Spain, and based on the findings and conclusions of a Needs Assessment Mission (NAM), ODIHR has deployed an Election Expert Team (EET) for the 28 April early parliamentary elections.

The NAM assessed the pre-election environment and preparations for the early parliamentary elections in order to recommend whether to deploy an ODIHR election-related activity for forthcoming elections, and if so, what types of activities best meet the identified needs. The NAM recommended deploying an expert team for the 28 April early parliamentary elections.

Mission Activities

The EET began its work on 17 April and includes three international experts, drawn from three OSCE participating States.

The EET will assess the electoral process for compliance with OSCE commitments, other international obligations and standards for democratic elections, as well as national legislation. Experts will follow aspects related to the conduct of the election campaign and the role of the media in the process.

In line with ODIHR’s methodology, the EET will not carry out systematic or comprehensive observation of voting, counting, or tabulation on election day. Team members will, however, visit a small number of polling stations across the country to follow election day procedures.

The team will remain in Spain until 1 May and will issue a report approximately two months after the completion of the electoral process.

Previous Elections

ODIHR previously deployed Election Assessment Missions for the 2004, 2008 and 2011 and2015 parliamentary elections.