[ Elections ] Legal Reviews 2011 COUNTRY TITLE OF DOCUMENT Serbia Joint Opinion on the Draft Law on Altering and Amending the Law on Election of Members of Parliament Armenia Draft Joint Opinion on the new Draft Electoral Code of Armenia 2 May Montenegro Draft Joint Opinion on the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Election of Councillors and Members of Parliament 18 May Montenegro Joint Opinion on the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Election of Councillors and Members of Parliament 17 June Bulgaria Joint Opinion on the Election Code of Bulgaria 21 June Kyrgyzstan Joint Opinion on the Draft Law on Presidential and Parliamentary Elections, the Draft Law on Elections to Local Governments and the Draft Law on the formation of Election Commissions of the Kyrgyz Republic 23 June Ukraine Preliminary Draft Joint Opinion on the Draft Law on Election of People’s Deputies of Ukraine Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Joint Opinion on the Revised Electoral Code of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 17 October Armenia Joint Final Opinion on the Electoral Code of Armenia adopted on 26 May 2011 17 October Ukraine Joint Opinion on the Draft Law on Election of People’s Deputies of Ukraine 17 October Georgia Joint Opinion on the Draft Election Code of Georgia 19 December Albania Joint Opinion on the Electoral Law and the Electoral Practice of Albania 19 December Development of election observation methodology ODIHR has developed a comprehensive methodology for the long-term observation of elections that encompasses all elements of the election process, beginning with a review of the legal framework, and including assessment of the performance of election administration bodies; the conduct of the campaign; the media environment and equitable media access; the complaints and appeals process; voting, counting and tabulation; and the announcement of results. This methodology is described in the Election Observation Handbook. The first edition of the Handbook was published in 1996, is now in its sixth edition and is also available in Russian. ODIHR continues to identify areas where its observation methodology could be improved and challenges posed by the observation of NVT and issues related to voter registration, electoral dispute resolution and the financing of electoral campaigns. The Office continues to publish guidelines and handbooks on different election-related subjects, as part of its ongoing efforts to provide election observers with additional guidance and training. 16 ODIHR Annual Report 2011 DATE OF ISSUE 31 March 12 September Observer training As in past years, ODIHR continued in 2011 to contribute significantly to the training of election observers. While it is primarily the responsibility of OSCE participating States to provide ODIHR with trained and experienced observers, the Office assists in this area. The training provided gives observers the necessary skills and underscores the need for a common approach to implementing the Office’s election observation methodology. In 2011, two training courses for short-term observers were conducted in Sarajevo and Tbilisi, respectively, and one training course was held for long-term observers in Sarajevo. Such training aims to broaden the pool of observers from participating States eligible under the Fund for Diversification: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Overall, 84 individuals from 15 participating States and two OSCE Partners for Co-operation participated in these training events. In addition, ODIHR continued to support participating States’ efforts by responding to requests to provide training for their election observers. In 2011, ODIHR