St Gallen — The OSCE’s first major conference under the Swiss chairmanship convened in St Gallen on 9 and 10 February, on a subject the organisation has committed itself to fighting for two decades and is currently failing to contain: antisemitism, at levels not recorded in the OSCE region in generations. Chair-in-Office Ignazio Cassis opened […]
Chișinău — International observers said Moldova’s parliamentary election was competitive and well administered despite unprecedented foreign interference, illicit funding schemes, cyberattacks and disinformation — a verdict delivered on Monday, the day after voters handed President Maia Sandu’s party a renewed parliamentary majority. The 28 September vote was watched by 391 observers from 50 countries — […]
Tbilisi — International observers delivered a carefully balanced verdict on Georgia’s parliamentary election on Sunday: a vote that offered real choice but took place on an uneven playing field, marked by pressure and tension. By Monday, their statement had become the central document in a fight over whether the result can stand. The 26 October […]
Ankara — International observers delivered their verdict on Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary elections on Monday: a hard-fought, technically well-run vote played out on a tilted field, in a country that turned out in enormous numbers and now faces two more weeks of campaign before a presidential runoff. Some 401 observers from 40 countries — deployed […]
Warsaw — The OSCE’s election observation office has cancelled its mission to Russia’s parliamentary elections next month, after Moscow imposed restrictions on the number of observers and the length of their stay that the office says make meaningful monitoring impossible. ODIHR had planned to send a full mission for the 17–19 September State Duma vote, […]
Tirana — The OSCE closed its twenty-seventh Ministerial Council on Friday with the appointment it had been unable to make for months: new leadership for the organisation’s four top posts, ending a vacancy crisis that had left the institution rudderless through one of the most turbulent years in its history. Meeting online under Albania’s chairmanship […]
Washington — The head of the international observation mission to the United States election has delivered an unusual rebuke to a sitting American president, saying that baseless allegations of systematic fraud — in particular by the incumbent — are damaging public trust in democratic institutions. Michael Georg Link, the German diplomat leading the OSCE Office […]