Elections S challenges, as well as responses thereto, in its report Common Responsibility: Commitments and Implementation, which was mandated by the Ministerial Council and presented at its meeting in Brussels in December. Main Issues k Meeting standards for democratic elections: OSCE participating States have made commitments to hold elections in accordance with the 1990 OSCE Copenhagen criteria, which the ODIHR uses as the basis for its evaluation of any given election. Despite improvements in the legal and administrative framework for elections in a number of OSCE states, the ODIHR continues to report serious flaws in the actual conduct of elections such as restrictions of fundamental freedoms, constraints on the right to stand for office, disenfranchisement of voters, inequi- A voter casts his ballot during parliamentary elections in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, 5 July. URDUR GUNNARSDOTTIR ince its establishment in 1990 — originally as the Office for Free Elections — the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights has been a leading supporter of democratic elections throughout the OSCE region. While its observation of elections is its most visible task, the Office also conducts a number of other election-related activities: reviewing electoral legislation to support emerging democracies, training observers, and publishing guidelines and handbooks about electoral issues. Over the past fifteen years, major progress has been witnessed in a number of countries in terms of conducting democratic elections, while others continue to fail to hold elections that are in line with OSCE commitments. The ODIHR’s comprehensive election observation methodology has permitted it to follow successive election processes in a number of participating States undergoing fundamental transition during the last decade and a half, as well as to offer recommendations to facilitate the conduct of elections that are more closely in line with OSCE commitments. Since 2002, the ODIHR has been following electoral developments in a broader range of participating States, also assessing specific electoral issues in longer-standing democracies and post-transition countries. This has been achieved through the increased deployment of election assessment missions, which primarily focus on the legal and administrative framework for the conduct of elections, and other relevant issues such as the introduction of new voting technologies. By adjusting its approach to meet the relevant circumstances in a broader range of participating States, the ODIHR has been able to maximize its available human and financial resources. Given the high interest in election-related issues, the ODIHR commented extensively on Annual Report  9