The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today opened a limited election observation mission for the 15 October 2023 parliamentary elections in Poland, following an invitation from the national authorities.
The mission is led by Douglas Wake and consists of 11 international experts from seven OSCE participating States, who will be based in Warsaw. In addition, ODIHR 20 long-term observers will be deployed throughout the country from 8 September.
The mission will assess the elections for their compliance with OSCE commitments and other international obligations and standards, as well as with national legislation. Observers will follow voter registration, candidate registration, campaign activities, the work of the election administration and relevant state bodies, implementation of the legislative framework, political and campaign finance and the resolution of election-related disputes. They will also assess how prior ODIHR recommendations have been considered. As part of the observation, the LEOM will conduct a comprehensive monitoring of the media.
Meetings with representatives of national authorities, political parties, as well as with representatives from the judiciary, civil society and the media will take place throughout the observation. For election day itself, a delegation from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will join efforts with the ODIHR mission.
While mission members will observe in a number of polling stations across the country to follow election day procedures, in line with ODIHR’s methodology for limited election observation missions, the mission will not carry out systematic or comprehensive observation of the voting, counting and tabulation on election day.
An interim report will be published to update the public and the media during the course of the observation. The day after the elections, a statement of preliminary findings will be presented at a press conference. A final report summing up the observation of the entire electoral process will be published some months after the election process has ended.
