Elections Legal Reviews 2012 COUNTRY TITLE OF DOCUMENT DATE OF ISSUE Hungary Joint Opinion on the “Act on the Elections of Members of Parliament” 18 June Turkmenistan Assessment of the electoral legislation 23 July Tunisia ODIHR Opinion on the draft law “On Establishing an Independent Election Management Body of the Republic of Tunisia.” 4 December Uzbekistan Joint Opinion on draft amendments and addenda to the law “On Elections to the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan” and “On Elections to the Regional, District and City Councils (Kengesh) of People’s Deputies of Uzbekistan” 17 December Reform of electoral legislation Legal frameworks are crucial to holding elections in agreement with OSCE commitments. Such frameworks should ensure that crucial rights are protected and standards adhered to in a structured manner. The review of electoral legislation and legal frameworks, therefore, has become one of the most important elements of the follow-up process. ODIHR continued in 2012 to offer comments on and assessments of draft electoral legislation, election laws and relevant amendments. The Office carried on its good co-operation with the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission to offer joint opinions, principally on draft electoral legislation or amendments to legislative frameworks for elections. In 2012, ODIHR published four reviews of electoral legislation: in Hungary, Tunisia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Two of these were conducted jointly with the Venice Commission. In addition, ODIHR provided extensive support and comments on the legal reform process in Albania, as well as in several other participating States. Development of election observation methodology ODIHR has developed a comprehensive methodology for long-term observation of elections that encompasses all elements of the election process. As part of its mandate to refine its election observation methodology, in 2012 ODIHR published two new handbooks on the observation of specific aspects of election processes: the Handbook on Observation of Voter Registration and the Handbook on Media Monitoring during Election Observation Missions. These handbooks provide additional guidance to observers in these two fields to enhance their professionalism. In 2012, ODIHR organized a Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on Democratic Elections and Election Observation, which generated lively discussion and a number of recommendations to participating States and ODIHR on the improvement of the conduct of democratic elections and further refinement of observation methodology. In addition, ODIHR translated a number of its handbooks, including the sixth edition of the Election Observation Handbook, into A ­ rabic in order to share expertise with OSCE’s Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation. ODIHR translated a number of its handbooks, including the sixth edition of the Election Observation Handbook, and the Handbook for Long-Term Election Observers, into Arabic in order to share expertise with OSCE’s Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation. 16 ODIHR Annual Report 2012