OSCE PA preparations for US election well under way

COPENHAGEN, 13 October 2008 - OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) Vice-President Pia Christmas-Moeller (Denmark) today starts a pre-election visit to the United States in preparation for the Assembly's election observation mission for the November U.S. election.

The visit to Washington and several of the battleground states during the week is yet another phase of the Assembly's work to prepare the over one hundred parliamentarians participating in the observation mission.

OSCE PA President Joao Soares (Portugal) will lead the mission. Christmas-Moeller will serve as its deputy head.

The OSCE PA's preparations for its mission to the U.S. election started in August. In September, almost 50 parliamentarians from 17 countries attended a two-day elections seminar in Washington, where, among others both the Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Republican Whip Roy Blunt addressed the attendees.

The preparations also include intensive research and fact-gathering, including media monitoring.

The parliamentarians will gather in Washington at the end of October for another full day of briefings before deployment for observation of the election process and voting day in up to ten states: Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Missouri, Colorado and New Mexico.

The OSCE PA's post-election statement will be made public at a press conference with President Soares on 6 November.

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly has led OSCE election observation missions since 1993. It observed the 2004 U.S. Presidential election and it will be the largest contingent of international observers at the US elections this year.