Parliamentary Elections, 14 April 2019

Following an invitation from the Permanent Delegation of Finland to the OSCE to observe the 14 April 2019 parliamentary elections and in accordance with its mandate, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) undertook a Needs Assessment Mission (NAM) from 23 to 25 January. The NAM included Lusine Badalyan, ODIHR Senior Election Adviser, and Vladimir Misev, ODIHR Election Adviser. 

The purpose of the mission was to assess the pre-election environment and preparations for the parliamentary elections. Based on this assessment, the NAM should recommend whether to deploy an ODIHR election-related activity for the forthcoming elections, and if so, what type of activity best meets the identified needs. Meetings were held with officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Administrative Court, the National Audit Office, the Population Register Centre, and the Council for Mass Media, as well as with representatives of political parties, media, and civil society. A list of meetings is included as an annex to this report.