News and press releases

From 18 February to 1 March 2013, the Monitoring Unit of the OSCE Mission to Skopje held roundtable discussions in 18 municipalities between mayoral candidates, leaders of local branches of political parties involved in the elections process, representatives of Municipal Electoral Commissions, Regional Representatives of the Ombudsman and Sectors for Internal Affairs...

VIENNA, 27 February 2013- OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier today welcomed the adoption by Parliament of the new deadline of 3 March for submitting candidate lists as “a new window of opportunity”, which he trusts everybody will benefit from in the interest of long-term political stability and development of the country...

SKOPJE, 25 February 2013 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today formally opened an election observation mission for the 24 March 2013 municipal elections in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The mission’s deployment follows an invitation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs...

YEREVAN, 19 February 2013 – Armenia’s presidential election was generally well-administered and was characterized by a respect for fundamental freedoms, including those of assembly and expression, concluded the international election observation mission in a statement released today. At the same time, the statement said, a lack of impartiality on the part of the public administration and the misuse of administrative resources resulted in a blurred distinction between the activities of the state and those of the ruling party...

A team from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) visited Kyiv from 11 to 14 February 2013 to present the final report of the Election Observation Mission for the 28 October 2012 parliamentary elections in Ukraine...

The general elections in the United States on 6 November 2012 took place in a competitive environment and were administered professionally but further steps should be taken to bring the electoral process closer in line with OSCE commitments, concludes the final report by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)...

YEREVAN, 13 February 2013 – Staff from the Armenian Human Rights Defender’s Office and experts from its Rapid Reaction Groups today received training on electoral rights in preparation for the 18 February presidential elections...