Following an official invitation from the Permanent Mission of Spain to the OSCE and in accordance with its mandate, the OSCE/ODIHR deployed an election assessment mission (EAM) to observe the 20 November 2011 early parliamentary elections.

ODIHR conducted a needs assessment mission (NAM) from 10 to 13 October 2011 to assess the pre-election environment and the preparations for the early parliamentary elections and in order to recommend whether to deploy an OSCE/ODIHR election-related activity for the forthcoming election, and if so, what type of activity best meets the identified needs. The NAM recommended the deployment of an assessment mission.

Observation Activities

The mission, headed by Mr. Nikolai Vulchanov, began work on 9 November. The EAM includes six international staff, drawn from 6 OSCE participating States.

The mission will assess the entire election process in terms of its compliance with OSCE commitments and other international standards for democratic elections, as well as national legislation. Observers will, in particular, assess the implementation of the new legal provisions on postal voting, media coverage of the campaign, campaign finance, and access to observers.

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 across the country to follow election day procedures.

The mission, which will remain in Spain until 24 November, will issue a report approximately two months after the completion of the election process.

Previous Elections

ODIHR has assessed two elections in Spain, the parliamentary elections of 2004 and 2008. The Election Assessment Mission for the 2008 parliamentary elections concluded that “the elections were conducted in a manner which reflected Spain’s established democratic tradition and a high level of public confidence in the overall process. The Spanish electoral system encourages political diversity and pluralism, offering voters a wide and genuine choice.” The mission also mentioned that “some aspects of legislation and practice could benefit from a review, including allocation of seats among constituencies for the Chamber of Deputies to enhance the equality of the vote and polling station procedures to fully ensure the secrecy of the vote.”