OSCE, Alm.del - 2008-09 - Bilag 39: Press release: OSCE/ODIHR experts to assess European Parliament elections.

PRESS RELEASEOSCE/ODIHR experts to assess European ParliamentelectionsWARSAW, 6 May 2009 - The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights(ODIHR) will assess the 4-7 June elections to the European Parliament by sending experts to 15European Union member states.A group of 22 experts, headed by Vadim Zhdanovich of Russia, will assess pan-European electionmatters in the selected member states, as well as relevant national legal frameworks, the work ofelection administrations and the conduct of the campaign. The experts will not observe election dayproceedings.The decision to send the expert group comes following invitations to observe the elections receivedby ODIHR from all 27 European Union member states.The expert visits will start on 12 May and will cover the following countries: Austria, CzechRepublic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland,Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.The group will split up into teams of, on average, four experts, with each team visiting threecountries ahead of the elections.The experts' findings will be included in a report which will be published several weeks afterelection day.More information on the expert visit and its methodology is available in the Exploratory MissionReport of 23 April 2009:http://www.osce.org/documents/odihr/2009/04/37313_en.pdfFor PDF attachments or links to sources of further information, please visit:http://www.osce.org/item/37513.html