TIRANA, 24 May 2019 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today formally opened an election observation mission for the 30 June local elections in Albania. The mission’s deployment follows an official invitation from the country’s authorities.

The mission is led by Ambassador Audrey Glover and consists of a core team of 13 election experts, based in Tirana, and 18 long-term observers to be deployed in teams of two across the country. In addition, ODIHR will request that OSCE participating States provide 250 short-term observers to monitor proceedings on election day.

The mission will observe the elections for their compliance with OSCE commitments and other international obligations and standards for democratic elections, as well as with national legislation. Observers will closely monitor the voter registration process, campaign activities, the work of the election administration and relevant governmental bodies, election-related legislation and its implementation, and the resolution of election-related disputes. The mission will also monitor the media coverage of the campaign.

In the course of its observation, the mission will meet with representatives of state authorities, of the election administration and political parties, as well as with individual candidates. It will also meet with representatives of civil society, the media and the international community.

On election day, observers will monitor the opening of voting centres, voting, the counting of ballots and the tabulation of results. For election day, the ODIHR election observation mission will join efforts with a delegation from the Council of Europe’s Congress of Local and Regional Authorities.

A statement of preliminary findings and conclusions will be issued on the day after the elections. A final report on the observation of the entire electoral process will be published approximately two months after the completion of the electoral process.

The ODIHR Election Observation Mission and the OSCE Presence in Albania operate separately under their respective mandates.