Elections Territories during the January presidential election; and the deployment of an Election Support Team to the September parliamentary elections in Afghanistan. In 1996, the ODIHR developed a methodology for long-term observation of elections that has stood the test of time. Its details have been made available in successive editions of the Election Observation Handbook. Now in its fifth edition, this handbook provides the guidelines that observers use to monitor all aspects of an electoral process, beginning with a review of the legal framework, and including the performance of the election administration; the conduct of the campaign; the media environment and equitable media access; the complaints and appeals process; voting, counting, and tabulation; and the announcement of results. While this methodology has not been fundamentally altered since its introduction, the experience and insights gained over the past decade have led to refinements in some areas and expansion in others. For example, the Office has adapted the methodology to take more detailed account of issues such as the participation of women and the inclusion of national minorities in the electoral process. The ODIHR, the Council of Europe, and the European Commission have also been collaborating since 2004 on the further development of guidelines on media analysis during electoral campaigns. Supporting domestic non-partisan election OSCE III. Methodological developments tion. Among other issues, participants discussed the following: k Co-operation between domestic and international observers; k Sustainability of domestic observation; k Credibility of domestic observers as non-partisan actors; k The obstacles and challenges that domestic observers sometimes face; k The importance of election follow-up; and k Regional co-operation. Participants recognized the significant role that domestic non-partisan election observation can play in enhancing the transparency and the integrity of election processes while acknowledging their responsibility to establish credibility and maintain the non-partisan nature of their activities. Kaare Vollan, who headed the ODIHR Election Assessment Mission to the UK general elections on 5 May, observes counting in Hackney, East London. observation Since 2001, the ODIHR has supported capacitybuilding efforts and exchanges of information with non-partisan domestic observer groups in recognition of their role in ensuring the transparency of election processes. In September, the ODIHR convened a meeting to share perspectives on 15 years of domestic election observation in the OSCE region with key domestic observer organizations from 14 participating States. The forum provided an opportunity to exchange experience and strengthen co-opera- ANNUAL REPORT 2005 Further enhancing the delivery of election observation methodology The ODIHR undertook a series of initiatives in 2005 to enhance the delivery of its observation methodology. In November, the ODIHR organized an expert meeting in Moscow on election observation that gathered more than fifty participants from inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations, parliamentary assemblies involved in election observation, electoral 13