KULOB, October 19, 2013, Asia-Plus — Long-term election observers from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) have visited the city of Kulob to get acquainted with preparations for the 2013 presidential election scheduled for November 6.
The OSCE/ODIHR long term observers Martin Minder (Switzerland) and Alexander Kobrinskiy said they got acquainted with organization of the pre-election campaign as a whole, including issues related to formation of Precinct Election Commissions (PECs).
According to them, they have held a number of meetings with representatives of political parties, public figures and representatives of media in Kulob.
We will recall that ODIHR opened an election observation mission to monitor the 2103 presidential election in Tajikistan on October 2.
ODIHR was invited by the government of Tajikistan to observe the presidential election, in line with the country’s commitments as an OSCE participating State. This is the fifth ODIHR election observation mission deployed to Tajikistan.
The mission is headed by Ambassador Paraschiva Badescu and consists of 13 international experts based in Dushanbe and 16 long-term observers to be deployed throughout the country. The experts and observers are drawn from 22 countries.
The mission will assess the presidential election for compliance with OSCE commitments and other international standards for democratic elections, as well as with national legislation. Observers will follow the candidate and voter registration, campaign activities, the work of the election administration and relevant state bodies, election-related legislation and its implementation, the media environment, and the resolution of election disputes. As part of the observation, the mission will also monitor the media coverage of the campaign.
In the course of its observation, the mission will meet with relevant authorities, political parties and candidates, as well as with representatives from civil society, the media and the international community. On election day, observers will monitor the opening of polling stations, voting, the counting of ballots and the tabulation of results.
A statement of preliminary findings and conclusions will be issued on the day after the election. A final report on the observation of the entire electoral process will be published approximately two months after the completion of the election process.
The OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission and the OSCE Office in Tajikistan operate separately under their respective mandates.
