A polling station during Albania’s parliamentary elections, Elbasan, 28 June. (OSCE/Roberto Berna) 8 of OSCE participating States. It has focused on specialized issues in election processes through assessment missions, which have joined observation missions as essential elements in ODIHR’s methodological toolkit. One of the key challenges in ODIHR’s work remains the implementation of recommendations, especially in countries where electoral processes are not yet in line with OSCE commitments. As a result, ODIHR has redoubled its follow-up efforts by prioritizing Office-wide activities in this area, and especially through strengthened co-ordination with ODIHR’s democratization work. campaigns; issues of structural bias in the media; faulty voter-registration systems producing anomalies that skew actual voting patterns; limitations placed upon election observers (both domestic and international); improper use of state resources to the advantage of certain contestants; the lack of separation between states and political parties; intimidation and pressuring of voters; lack of effective legal redress; and, often, direct fraud during the voting, counting and tabulation of votes. Main Issues As a natural continuation of its election observation work and to ensure a constructive approach in pursuing its mandate, a key focus of ODIHR’s work is assisting participating States in the implementation of recommendations to improve election processes. Such recommendations are made at the conclusion of an election process, as part of a comprehensive final report that is shared with all participating States and made public. These reports are also provided in the local language, in order to reach out to domestic election stakeholders. These recommendations point to crucial problems during a particular election and suggest measures that may be taken to bring the election process into closer conformity with OSCE commitments. Post-election dialogue with participating States is a continuing necessity for this mechanism of evaluation and improvement. Democratic Standards The 1990 Copenhagen commitments remain the principal benchmark for ODIHR’s evaluation of election processes. While recognizing democratic development as a process, ODIHR continues to observe a dissonance between legal and administrative frameworks in a number of OSCE participating States and the application of these provisions in practice. Since legal norms should not be mere formalities, ODIHR also looks at the actual implementation of election-related laws. The Office continues to note and report upon significant shortcomings in a number of OSCE participating States, including: limitations of fundamental rights and freedoms; undue restrictions placed upon candidates and Elections Implementing Recommendations ODIHR Annual Report 2009