OSCE/ODIHR deploys expert team to support Afghanistan elections
WARSAW, 26 July 2009 - A team of election experts deployed by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) arrived in Kabul today to support the conduct of the 20 August presidential and provincial council elections in Afghanistan.
The deployment follows a decision by the OSCE's Permanent Council, which tasked ODIHR with assisting Afghanistan's government and the international community in their efforts to organize the forthcoming elections and prepare a report on the electoral process, with recommendations on how to improve the conduct of future elections.
The 20 ODIHR experts will be able to assist election stakeholders in Afghanistan, including election administration bodies and domestic observer groups. The team will work in close co-ordination with other international actors, in particular the observation and assistance missions deployed by the European Union and the United Nations.
The experts will follow the campaign, pre-election preparations, the media situation, election day proceedings, the count and tabulation of results, and the complaints and appeals process. They will conduct short field visits to the provinces, contingent on the security situation.
There will be no public statement immediately after election day, but a report with the experts' findings will be presented to the Afghan Government and to the OSCE participating States several weeks after the completion of the electoral process.
Recommendations will cover all areas of the electoral process, but will have a particular focus on how to build sustainable structures for the organization of elections, how to further improve the voter registration system, how domestic observation can be further developed and how to strengthen the legal framework for elections.
Afghanistan is one of the OSCE's five Asian Partners for Co-operation but is not a participating State in the Organization.
ODIHR previously sent election support teams to Afghanistan for elections in 2004 and 2005.