ELECTIONS ELECTION OBSERVATION ACTIVITIES IN 2013 Country Election type Election date Mission type 1 Czech Republic Presidential election 11 & 12 January EAM 2 Monaco Parliamentary elections 10 February EET 3 Armenia Presidential election 18 February EOM 4 Malta Parliamentary elections 9 March EAM 5 Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Local elections 24 March & 7 April EOM 6 Montenegro Presidential election 7 April LEOM 7 Georgia Parliamentary by-elections 27 April EET 8 Iceland Parliamentary elections 27 April EAM 9 Bulgaria Early parliamentary elections 12 May EOM Parliamentary elections 23 June EOM 11 Mongolia Presidential election 26 June EOM 12 Norway Parliamentary elections 9 September EAM 13 Germany Parliamentary elections 22 September EET 14 Austria Parliamentary elections 29 September EET 15 Azerbaijan Presidential election 9 October EOM 16 Georgia Presidential election 27 October EOM 17 Tajikistan Presidential 6 November EOM 18 Turkmenistan Parliamentary elections 15 December EAM 19 Ukraine Parliamentary by-elections 15 December EET 10 Albania preliminary assessment of the electoral framework and practice in a number of areas. NAMs consider the degree of compliance of the election legislation with OSCE commitments and follow-up to previous ODIHR reports and recommendations. They also analyse the degree of public confidence in the election administration and the conduct of elections, and assess the legal framework for guarantees of fundamental rights and freedoms. Consideration is also given to the media environment and the systems for the adjudication of complaints and appeals. Finally, NAMs look into the level of civil society engagement and its planned activities for the elections. ODIHR conducted 19 election-related activities in 2013. The purpose of these activities was twofold: to assess whether OSCE commitments, other international standards and national legislation were complied with and to offer recommendations for improvements. Election observation is not aimed at criticizing or commending participating States, but is conducted in order to offer a balanced, objective and comprehensive picture of the processes observed. In a continued effort to fulfil its mandate in an impartial, professional and accountable manner, ODIHR published 57 reports, including NAM reports, interim reports, statements of preliminary findings and conclusions, and final reports. Maintaining efforts to ensure linguistic inclusiveness in its work, all election-related reports, with the exception of NAM reports, were posted on the ODIHR website together with translations into local languages. Full-scale observation activities with the deployment of election observation missions (EOMs) were conducted in eight OSCE participating States. In addition to a core team of experts in various electoral fields, EOMs include long- and short-term observers 14  /   ODIHR Annual Report 2013