[ Elections ] Participants at a seminar on increasing the accuracy of voter registers, Warsaw, 31 August 2011. (OSCE/Shiv Sharma) Follow-up to observation missions ODIHR consistently offers to present its final reports and to provide assistance to participating States in implementing the recommendations therein, with the aim of strengthening and improving compliance with OSCE commitments. Such follow-up activities were conducted in a range of OSCE participating States in 2011. ODIHR officially presented final reports to and discussed the recommendations they contained with the authorities and a wide variety of other stakeholders in Albania, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, to name just a few examples. ODIHR staff and experts also participated in discussions on electoral-law reform in Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Ukraine. Other specific aspects of the electoral process, such as women’s participation, new voting technologies and voter registration, were discussed during visits to Georgia, Norway, the Russian Federation and Tajikistan. Where sufficient political will to improve the election process exists, the post-election period provides an opportunity for participating States to benefit from ODIHR election observation recommendations through an active follow-up process. These recommendations can assist participating States in meeting their commitments to conduct democratic elections. Reform of electoral legislation The conduct of elections in line with OSCE commitments requires a strong and effective legislative base. The review of electoral legislation, therefore, has become one of the most important elements of the follow-up process. Following its established practice of assisting participating States with legislative reform in the field of elections, ODIHR continued to offer comments on and assessments of draft election legislation, election laws and relevant amendments. The Office regularly co-operated with the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission to offer joint opinions, primarily on draft electoral legislation or amendments to legislative frameworks for elections. In 2011, together with the Venice Commission, ODIHR provided and published 12 legal reviews on electoral legislation, in Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine. ODIHR Annual Report 2011 15