ELECTIONS 2014 Election-Related Activities 1 Serbia Early parliamentary, 16 March LEOM 2 Afghanistan Presidential and provincial council, 5 April and 14 June EST 3 Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Presidential, early parliamentary, 13 and 27 April EOM 4 Hungary Parliamentary, 6 April LEOM 5 Ukraine Early presidential, 25 May EOM 6 Turkey Presidential, 10 August LEOM 7 Latvia Parliamentary, 4 October EAM 8 Bulgaria Early parliamentary, 5 October LEOM 9 Bosnia and Herzegovina General, 12 October EOM 10 Ukraine Early parliamentary, 26 October EOM 11 Moldova Parliamentary, 30 November EOM 12 Uzbekistan Parliamentary, 21 December LEOM In addition, ODIHR deployed one election assessment mission (EAM), comprising a core team of experts, but no long- or short-term observers. EAMs are deployed to elections where the presence of short- and long-term observers is not considered necessary because of high levels of confidence in the conduct of elections, well-tested electoral practices and proven checks and balances, such as an independent judiciary, robust civil society and pluralistic media. Conversely, an EAM can also be deployed when there is an interest in maintaining dialogue with election stakeholders in a participating State, but where there is a lack of political pluralism offering a genuine choice between competing political alternatives, previous ODIHR priority recommendations have not been implemented, there is a lack of progress in bringing the legal framework for elections closer in line with OSCE commitments, or where an observation activity, even of a limited nature, is unlikely to add any significant value. As is the case with EOMs and LEOMs, EAMs make an overall assessment of the administrative and legal framework for the conduct of elections and provide targeted recommendations. ODIHR also deployed an Election Support Team (EST) to Afghanistan, based upon a special mandate from the Permanent Council and with support from voluntary extra-budgetary contributions (see Support for OSCE Partners for Co-operation sub-section). In 2014, some 3,000 observers from 52 participating States took part in ODIHR observation activities. To support the participation of observers from countries that do not generally second observers, ODIHR continues to leverage the extra-budgetary Fund for Diversification. The 17 States currently eligible for the Fund are: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. In 2014, the Fund enabled the deployment of 11 long-term and 16 short-term observers. The continued support of OSCE participating States for this extra-budgetary programme is instrumental in ensuring broad geographic diversity on election observation missions. In 2014, ODIHR also established an extra-budgetary Election Observation Sustainability Fund. This fund is used by ODIHR to bridge the gap between the number of requested observers and the number of those seconded by the OSCE participating States. The recruitment and participation of professional observers covered by the Sustainability Fund complements the secondment process and the ODIHR Annual Report 2014 15