Overview
- The OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights announced on Wednesday that it was not invited to observe the November 3 midterm elections, the first exclusion since the organization began U.S. federal election missions in 2002.
- Washington told the OSCE last December to cut at least €15 million from its budget and to shift focus toward stability missions, a demand officials say helped prompt the refusal to invite observers.
- Pere Joan Pons, president of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, called the move a clear departure from established democratic practice and German official Metin Hakverdi said excluding observers undermines election integrity.
- OSCE missions normally send a core team, long-term observers and hundreds of short-term observers who assess law, voting access, ballot handling and vote counts and then publish public reports on electoral conduct.
- The exclusion raises the prospect of closer domestic and international scrutiny of U.S. voting procedures and could shift how watchdogs, foreign governments and journalists assess the November results and post-election reviews.