General Election, 8 June 2017

Following an invitation from the United Kingdom Delegation to the OSCE, and based on the findings and conclusions of a Needs Assessment Mission (NAM), ODIHR has deployed an Election Expert Team (EET) for the 8 June general election.

The NAM assessed the pre-election environment and preparations for the general election in order to recommend whether to deploy an OSCE/ODIHR election-related activity for the forthcoming elections, and if so, what type of activity best meet the identified needs. The NAM recommended to deploy an expert team for the upcoming general election.

Mission Activities

The EET began its work on 29 May 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 look at the campaign finance system and the media environment.

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, which will remain in the United Kingdom until 13 June, will issue a report approximately two months after the completion of the electoral process.

Previous Elections

The OSCE/ODIHR previously assessed three elections in the United Kingdom, most recently the 2015 general election.