COPENHAGEN, 15 August 2011 – OSCE Chair-in-Office and Ireland's Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore has announced four members of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly will serve as the special co-ordinators to lead the short-term OSCE observer missions in Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine, and United States.
Gilmore appointed the individuals on the nomination of President Riccardo Migliori, who has called for his colleagues in parliament to help fulfill a robust schedule of elections taking place this autumn.
Matteo Mecacci (Italy), chair of the Committee on Democracy, Human Rights, and Humanitarian Questions, will head the election observation mission for parliamentary elections in Belarus on 23 September.
"At a time when the OSCE Mission and several embassies remain closed or scaled down in Minsk, this election observation mission is critical to rebuilding a productive conversation in support of the democratic commitments to which Belarus has freely agreed," said Mecacci.
Vice-President Tonino Picula (Croatia) will lead the mission to the parliamentary elections in Georgia on 1 October.
"Just as voters look forward to sizing up the candidates this autumn, we observers look forward to returning to Tblisi to see how the electoral process is carried out in comparison to Georgia's democratic commitments," Picula said.
OSCE PA Vice-President Walburga Habsburg Douglas (Sweden) will lead the mission to observe the parliamentary elections in Ukraine on 28 October.
"With this October's parliamentary elections coming just two months before Ukraine takes the helm of the OSCE, there is a great interest in seeing the incoming OSCE Chair-in-Office lead by example on human rights," Habsburg Douglas said. "Kyiv can take a strong first step toward that leadership by ensuring this election is held in line with democratic commitments."
Former OSCE PA President Joao Soares (Portugal) will lead the election observation mission to the United States where voting will be held on 6 November.
"As the first presidential election to be held after the landmark Citizens United Supreme Court decision allowed greater money in US campaigns, it is important to measure how this election unfolds relative to the country's OSCE commitments," Soares said.
Each special co-ordinator will deliver the post-election statement for their respective election mission the day after election day.
