OSCE Mission to Montenegro organizes workshop on lessons learned and international standards in elections
The OSCE Mission to Montenegro and its international partners organized a two-day workshop on Lessons Learned after the 2016 Parliamentary Elections, for staff of the State Election Commission (SEC) and of the Municipal Election Commissions (MEC) on 21-22 November 2016 in Budva. The event was followed by three-day training on International Standards in Election Administration.
Some 40 representatives of State and Municipal Election Commissions took part in the event to evaluate all phases of the election cycle, discuss international standards and put forward recommendations to improve the electoral process.
In his opening remarks, the President of the SEC, Budimir Šaranović, noted that the recent parliamentary elections were conducted according to a substantially modified legal framework, which introduced the use of Electronic Voter Identification Devices (EVIDs). “I would like to express my gratitude for the support of the international partners and the expertise provided by the OSCE in the process,” Šaranović said.
The Head of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, Janina Hrebickova, highlighted the many “firsts” related to this process, such as the first time that a training manual for representatives of polling boards was developed and a uniformed countrywide training was conducted. “All this means that you have initiated an important process that needs to be nurtured with commitment and dedication,” she emphasized.
In their opening remarks, the Ambassadors V. Del Monaco of Italy, H.G. Mattern of Germany, I. Whitting of United Kingdom and J. Fröhlich of Austria from their respective embassies in Montenegro commended the work of the SEC and MECs, made references to the OSCE/ODIHR observations and recommendations and stressed the need to continue working on the electoral process to ensure that it belongs to each and every citizen.
This event is part of the extra-budgetary project on Providing Technical Assistance to the Montenegrin State Election Commission supported by the German, Italian, British and Austrian governments.