Elections  Children help their father vote at a polling station in Astana, during the 18 August parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan. 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, ODIHR has been able to maximize its available human and financial resources and to provide a broader information base for participating States on electoral issues. Main Issues kk Meeting standards for democratic elections: OSCE participating States have made commitments to hold elections in accordance with the 1990 OSCE Copenhagen criteria, which serve as the basis for ODIHR’s evaluation of any given election. Numerous improvements have been made in election processes in many OSCE states, including in the legal and administrative framework regulating the conduct of elections; however, such improvements are only significant if they are implemented accordingly. ODIHR continues to have to report serious flaws in a Ballots are counted for the 24 May parliamentary elections in Ireland. Holly Ruthrauff S ince its establishment in 1990 — originally as the Office for Free Elections — the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has become a significant institution for promoting and supporting democratic elections throughout the OSCE region. While in the early years its election-related activities were particularly focused on supporting democratic transition in post-communist countries, it has since developed its capacity to follow election issues in a broad majority of OSCE participating States. This permits ODIHR to fulfil its various mandates and tasks effectively and to promote OSCE election commitments throughout the whole OSCE region, holding all participating States accountable to those commitments. While its observation of elections is its most visible task, the Office also conducts a number of other election-related activities: reviewing electoral legislation, 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, for others, the implementation of election-related commitments continues to be a challenge. ODIHR’s comprehensive election observation methodology has permitted it to follow successive election processes in participating States undergoing fundamental transition, and to offer recommendations to facilitate the conduct of elections more closely in line with OSCE commitments. Since 2002, ODIHR has been following electoral developments in a broader range of participating States, also assessing specific electoral issues in longer-standing democracies and posttransition countries. This has been achieved through the increased deployment of election assessment missions, which primarily focus on Annual Report 2007 9