OSCE parliamentarians to observe presidential election in Turkey

COPENHAGEN, 29 July 2014 – OSCE parliamentarians will travel to Turkey next week to observe the country’s upcoming presidential election and provide leadership for the OSCE's short-term observer mission.

OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Didier Burkhalter has designated Vilija Aleknaite Abramikiene (MP, Lithuania) as Special Co-ordinator of the mission to observe the 10 August vote. Asa Lindestam (MP, Sweden) will serve as Head of the OSCE PA Delegation, which includes more than 20 parliamentarians from 15 OSCE participating States.

“This vote will be a milestone in Turkey’s history as its first direct presidential election. We hope that its conduct will demonstrate Turkey’s adherence to democratic commitments, which must be fully respected not only during this period, not only during elections, but throughout society in the months and years to come,” Aleknaite Abramikiene said.

“Strengthened democracy in Turkey could also have a significant positive impact on the region at large,” she added.

Members of the Delegation will travel to polling stations in several regions of Turkey, working closely with long-term observers from the OSCE/ODIHR Limited Election Observation Mission and in co-ordination with colleagues from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

The mission will assess the election against democratic commitments contained in the OSCE’s 1990 Copenhagen Document.

Special Co-ordinator Aleknaite Abramikiene has served as a Vice-President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly since 2013. She previously served two terms as Rapporteur of the PA’s Committee on Political Affairs and Security and was Head of Lithuania’s Delegation to the PA from 2008 to 2012. Aleknaite Abramikiene has been a member of the Lithuanian Parliament since 1992 and is a member of the Committees on European Affairs and Legal Affairs.

Asa Lindestam, the Head of the OSCE PA Delegation to observe the election, is the Chair of the OSCE PA’s Committee on Political Affairs and Security. She has been a member of Sweden’s Delegation to the OSCE PA since 2007 and has participated in many election observation missions, including to Armenia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Georgia, Russia, the United States and Ukraine.

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly previously observed the 2011 parliamentary elections in Turkey.

Since 1993, more than 5,000 OSCE parliamentarians and staff have observed more than 130 elections in over 30 countries.