Elections LEGAL REVIEWS 2010 Country Title of Document Date of Issue Belarus Joint Opinion on the Amendments to the Electoral Code of the Republic of Belarus as of 17 December 2009 4 June Moldova Joint Opinion on the Draft Working Text on Amending the Election Code of Moldova 7 June Montenegro Joint Opinion on the Draft Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on the Election of Councillors and Members of Parliament of Montenegro as Amended through July 2006 8 June Georgia Joint Opinion on the Election Code of Georgia as Amended through March 2010 9 June Norway Joint Opinion on the Electoral Legislation of Norway 22 December Field Operation Support Part of ODIHR’s work also involves providing active and continued support to OSCE field operations. Such support includes following electoral events (referenda, local elections and by-elections) and advising field operations on a variety of election-related issues, from legal amendments to constituency delimitation. ODIHR also regularly sends its staff and independent experts to participate in key election-related events, including official working groups on issues such as electoral-law reform. ODIHR recognizes that OSCE field operations can play a longer-term role in the area of election-related technical assistance. Targeted technical assistance programmes delivered by OSCE field missions, if designed in a manner that effectively addresses previous ODIHR recommendations, can represent an important complement to ODIHR’s work. Election Observation Mission Dialogue and Follow-up As a natural continuation of the work done under its observation mandate, ODIHR consistently offers to assist participating States in implementing the recommendations made in its election reports, with the aim of strengthening and improving compliance with OSCE commitments. Such follow-up activities were conducted in a range of OSCE countries in 2010. They included Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Ukraine, where the ODIHR final reports were formally presented to the authorities and discussions on the recommendations they contained took place among a wide variety of stakeholders. Specific aspects of the electoral process, such as the formation and composition of election commissions, the use of new voting technologies, and access for international election observers, were subjects for further 14 ODIHR Annual Report 2010 dialogue with the authorities of Azerbaijan, Belgium, Norway, the Russian Federation and the United States. ODIHR staff and experts also participated in discussions on electoral-law reform in, for example, Armenia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Turkmenistan and Ukraine. Political will was, once again, a vital factor for effective follow-up in 2010. Kyrgyzstan, for example, showed that such political will is indispensible to achieving progress in holding elections that are more in line with OSCE commitments; despite a short time period and limited resources, recommendations made by ODIHR were implemented. Where sufficient political will exists, the period after an election is an excellent opportunity for a participating State to benefit from the related recommendations, and ODIHR continues to encourage such timely efforts. After parliamentary elections in Tajikistan in February, it was pointed out during a major follow-up event in Dushanbe, attended by some 100 participants from across a wide political spectrum, that the time to act on recommendations is immediately following an election process; sufficient time is necessary to deal with fundamental issues in a meaningful manner. Electoral Legislation Reform Legal frameworks are crucial to holding elections in line with OSCE commitments. Such a framework should ensure that crucial rights are protected and standards adhered to in a structured manner. The review of electoral legislation and legal frameworks, therefore, continues to be a key element of ODIHR follow-up activities. In 2010, ODIHR published five legal reviews, jointly with the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission, on draft or final amendments to election laws in Belarus, Moldova, Montenegro,