Elona Hoxha Gjebrea and Artur GerasymovCOPENHAGEN, 7 July 2021 – Some 20 OSCE parliamentarians and staffmembers from ten countries are deploying this week to Bulgaria for the 11 July parliamentary elections. Working closely with the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the OSCE PA team will be observing in the capital, Sofia, and other regions.
Artur Gerasymov (Ukraine) will serve as Special Co-ordinator and leader of the short-term observers, and Elona Gjebrea Hoxha (Albania) heads the OSCE PA’s team.
“Having led the OSCE short-term observers in April, I look forward to once again observing the vote this week,” Gerasymov said. “It will be particularly important as observers to see how the recent amendments to the Election Code are implemented.”
Amendments adopted on 29 April include extensive use of voting technology as well as new rules and procedures for organizing out-of-country voting and a streamlined appeals process for certain CEC decisions.
“As observers, we will bring a fair and impartial eye to the process, and we hope only that everyone can compete on an equal playing field and that the results accurately reflect the will of the people,” said Hoxha. “As in April, we expect to see a vibrant and competitive contest.”
The mission is assessing the elections against democratic commitments contained in the OSCE’s 1990 Copenhagen Document. Observers will be comprehensively briefed prior to election day. The leaders of the mission will deliver the post-election statement of preliminary findings and conclusions at a press conference in Sofia on 12 July, which will stream live on the OSCE PA website, www.oscepa.org.
Altogether, the international election observation mission has more than 80 observers in the country.
The July 2021 mission marks the fourth time the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly has observed the vote in Bulgaria, most recently the 4 April 2021 parliamentary elections. For previous OSCE PA assessments of Bulgarian elections, please click here.
