ODIHR opens election observation mission in Kazakhstan

NUR-SULTAN, 8 May 2019 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today formally opened an election observation mission (EOM) for the 9 June early presidential election in Kazakhstan. The mission’s deployment follows an invitation from the country’s authorities.
The mission is led by Ambassador Urszula Gacek and consists of a core team of 11 experts based in Nur-Sultan. ODIHR has requested OSCE participating States to second 24 long-term observers and 300 short-term observers. The long-term observers will be deployed throughout the country in multinational teams of two from 14 May 2019, while the short-term observers will arrive a few days before the election.
The mission will assess the election’s compliance with OSCE commitments and other international obligations and standards for democratic elections, as well as with national legislation. Observers will closely monitor voter registration, candidate registration, campaign activities, the work of the election administration and relevant government bodies, election-related legislation and its implementation, and the resolution of election-related disputes. The mission will also monitor media coverage of the campaign.
In the course of its observation, the mission will meet with representatives of state authorities, political parties, civil society, the media, and the international community.
On election day itself, the ODIHR EOM will join efforts with the delegation from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to monitor the opening of polling stations, voting, the counting of ballots and the tabulation of results.
The mission will publish an interim report in the course of its work. The day after the election, a statement of preliminary findings and conclusions will be issued at a press conference. ODIHR will issue a final report on the observation approximately two months after the end of the election process.
The ODIHR election observation mission and the OSCE Programme Office in Nur-Sultan operate separately and independently under their own mandates.