OSCE Chairman announces decision to send special expert team to support Afghan presidential elections

VIENNA/SOFIA, 6 August 2004 - The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Solomon Passy, has written to Afghanistan's Foreign Minister, Abdullah Abdullah, confirming that the Organization intends to support the forthcoming Afghan presidential elections.

The OSCE is to send an Election Support Team for the 9 October presidential election in Afghanistan. The Organization's decision comes in response to Minister Abdullah's invitation of 6 July to the Chairmanship to send experts from the OSCE's specialist institution, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODHIR), to observe the elections.

On the Chairman's instructions, an OSCE/ODIHR Exploratory Mission was sent to Afghanistan from 11 to 14 July to familiarize itself with the preparations for the elections. The mission reported back to the OSCE Permanent Council on 21 July.

After studying the report, and taking into consideration the importance of these elections in fostering democracy and human rights and strengthening stability in Afghanistan, the Permanent Council agreed on 29 July to the despatch of an Election Support Team. Afghanistan is one of ten Partners for Co-operation that have been accepted by the 55-nation Organization.

The Election Support Team will analyse aspects of the electoral process, such as voter registration, the work of electoral commissions, vote count and tabulation, as well as the complaint and appeal procedures.

Based on this analysis the team will produce a set of recommendations to the Afghan Government for implementation in the post - election period, with a view to enhancing the conduct of future elections and improving Afghanistan's legal framework and procedures.

A small advance team from the Secretariat and ODIHR will go to Afghanistan in the second half of August to assess security, logistics and attempt to identify possible locations where Election Support Team members could be deployed. The Election Support Team will work closely with other international organizations, such as the United Nations, NATO and the European Union, as well as the Afghan authorities.