II. BACKGROUND In recent years, OSCE participating States have sought to draw upon the extensive OSCE/ ODIHR election observation experience by requesting a review of “best practices”. In 2002, the ODIHR submitted to the OSCE Permanent Council the document on International Standards and Commitments on the Right to Democratic Elections: A Practical Reference Guide to Democratic Elections Best Practice. This document was the basis for a subsequent 2003 document Existing Commitments for Democratic Elections in OSCE Participating States: A Progress Report, which was considered by the OSCE Ministerial Council. The July 2004 OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting, convened by the Bulgarian Chairmanship, was devoted to “Electoral Standards and Commitments”. Ambassador Ivo Petrov, Chairman of the Permanent Council, noted that there now was an important opportunity to examine “the need for additional commitments on elections”.10 Participants in the 2004 SHDM meeting generally agreed that there was a need for additional commitments to address ongoing and emerging challenges, including new voting technologies, “particularly as they relate to transparency, accountability and developing public confidence in such systems”.11 In March 2005, OSCE Chairman-in-Office and Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel stated, “bearing in mind the fact that the OSCE Copenhagen Document is almost 15 years old, I see merit in considering whether additional commitments are needed”. In April 2005, the OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting was devoted to “Challenges of Election Technologies and Procedures”. As a result of the concluding SHDM recommendations, the Slovenian Chairmanship proposed that the ODIHR would convene an expert meeting to consider the need for additional commitments.12 This meeting of experts took place in Warsaw on 6-7 September 2005, and subsequent views for possible additional commitments for democratic elections are reflected below. III. POSSIBLE ADDITIONAL COMMITMENTS FOR DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS OSCE participating States could further enhance their commitment to democratic elections through additional commitments to supplement the existing ones. The additional commitments could focus on three principles which are implicit, but not expressly stated, in the 1990 Copenhagen Document: transparency, accountability and public confidence. These three principles are integral to one another. Transparency and accountability contribute directly to increasing public confidence in the respective government’s ability and intention to deliver a democratic election process. Each of these principles is important for realizing the will of the people through democratic elections. These principles are also par  Considerable work on “best practices” for elections has also been undertaken during this same period by other institutions, including the United Nations, and specific to the OSCE area, by the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Association of Central and Eastern European Election Officials (ACEEEO). 10  Final Report of OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on “Electoral Standards and Commitments”, Vienna, 1516 July 2004, p. 1. 11  Id., p. 2. 12  Final Report of OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on “Challenges of Election Technologies and Procedures”, Vienna, 21-22 April 2005. Letter of 1 July 2005 from Ambassador Lenarčič, Chairman of the OSCE Permanent Council, to Ambasador Strohal. Common Responsibility: Commitments and Implementation 85