109. The ODIHR has over the years broadened its methodology to reflect specific and evolving circumstances in participating States and to enable some degree of graduated options when planning how to most effectively follow a particular electoral process. It can deploy a standard long-term observation mission, made up of long- and short-term observers and supported by a core team. Such missions are deployed on average for six to ten weeks. Alternatively, on occasion, some observations can be limited to the deployment of a long-term mission, consisting of long-term observers and supported by a core team, without the presence of short-term observers on Election Day. This may occur in countries where there is broad confidence in Election Day proceedings, as confirmed by past experience, but there may be issues within the overall legal and administrative framework that merit following. The observation therefore focuses its attention largely on the pre-election period. 110. Conversely, the absence of short-term observers may derive from the fact that the preelection period was too flawed or the election process not sufficiently competitive, to make polling day a meaningful exercise. In these cases, the ODIHR does not request short-term observers from participating States, thus indicating an election process that is significantly sub-standard with regard to OSCE commitments. On rare occasions, a limited observation may also be deployed due to time constraints. 111. When participating States committed themselves to inviting election observers, they put no restrictions on the number of observers deemed necessary to conduct an effective observation. In fact, one of the key conditions for effective observation, as reflected in the ODIHR Election Observation Handbook, is that the ODIHR should be able to determine, at its own discretion, the number of observers necessary to mount a viable election observation mission. This fundamental tenet of international election observation is also espoused in the Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation. 112. As such, the optimal number of observers is determined in order to ensure sufficient coverage in the context of the electoral process. Factors may include: size of the country, number of voters, number of constituencies, topography, ways to ensure comprehensive geographic coverage, ways to ensure urban/rural coverage, electoral history and overall level of confidence in the process. Post-conflict elections, or particularly contentious election processes, may require larger numbers of observers as a confidence-building measure. Another determining factor is the anticipated capacity of States, and their respective interest, to second observers. In order to allow for credible identification of trends in the process and to determine whether any irregularities are systematic or merely isolated, the findings are systematically based on the feedback of a relevant number of observers in each instance. This should permit the ODIHR to acquire full insight into the election process, and in return, to be able to offer an authoritative assessment rather than an impressionistic one. 113. Election observation is an undertaking that requires the highest professional standards; it is essential that all participants follow basic principles of observation, such as, inter alia, objectivity and non-interference in the electoral process. These principles must be strictly enforced in order to maintain full credibility of the mission as a neutral observer. It is for this reason that the ODIHR’s methodology contains a Code of Conduct that is binding on all OSCE observers.72 There have been several instances where seconded observers have been 72  The 10-point Code of Conduct for OSCE/ODIHR observers is available on the ODIHR’s website. 38 Common Responsibility: Commitments and Implementation