Early Parliamentary Elections, 18 May 2025
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Mission at a glance
Core team of four experts from four OSCE participating States, based in Lisbon
Mission schedule
4 May: Arrival of the Election Expert team
5 May: Opening of the mission
18 May: Election Day
22 May: Departure of the Election Expert team
Following an invitation to observe the early parliamentary elections in Portugal scheduled for 18 May 2025, based on the findings and conclusions of the Needs Assessment Mission (NAM) conducted between 1 and 4 April 2025, and in accordance with its mandate, ODIHR has deployed an Election Expert Team (EET) for these elections.
The Team will assess whether the elections are held in line with OSCE commitments and other international obligations and standards for democratic elections, as well as with national legislation.
The ODIHR EET will closely examine components of the election identified as meriting attention by the ODIHR NAM, specifically:
- campaign activities and election-related activities on social media
- legal framework and campaign financing
- gender issues and participation of women in public and political life.
The mission will visit a limited number of polling stations on election day and systematic observation of voting, counting or tabulation procedures is not envisaged.
Previous Elections
ODIHR has previously observed three elections in the country, most recently to the 2022 early parliamentary elections.
Following an official invitation to observe the 18 May 2025 early parliamentary elections in Portugal, and in accordance with its mandate, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) undertook a Needs Assessment Mission (NAM) from 1 to 4 April. The NAM included Ulvi Akhundlu, ODIHR Deputy Head of Election Department, and Yelena Kovalyova, ODIHR Election Adviser.
The purpose of the mission was to assess the pre-election environment and preparations for the early 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 state institutions as well as with representatives of political parties, media, civil society and diplomatic community. A list of meetings is annexed to this report.