COPENHAGEN, 6 January 2021 – In response to clashes in and around the United States Capitol building in Washington, DC, the leaders of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s recent election observation mission in the United States and OSCE PA President Peter Lord Bowness condemned the violence and urged respect for democratic processes. They also expressed appreciation for members of Congress and other political leaders, including those in the incumbent President’s party, who have denounced the protest.

German parliamentarian Michael Georg Link and Norwegian parliamentarian Kari Henriksen, who served as Special Co-ordinator of the OSCE short-term observer mission and head of the OSCE PA delegation of observers, respectively, issued the following joint statement:

“As leaders of the OSCE’s international observation mission to the US election in November, we have been dismayed for the past two months by irresponsible statements by the incumbent President and his baseless allegations of widespread fraud. Today’s disorder at the US Capitol, with protesters clashing with police and attempting to storm the building to stop the formal counting of Electoral College votes by Congress, is the predictable result of these reckless attempts by President Trump to undermine the democratic process. We condemn in the strongest terms the criminal behavior by these Trump supporters and urge calm while the US democratic institutions perform their functions. The incumbent President has one thing to do, namely send a tweet that calls this off.”

OSCE PA President Bowness stressed that a smooth transfer of power in the United States will send an important signal to the rest of the world, which still looks to the US as a home for lawful democratic government.

“In these times of rising authoritarianism and the rolling back of democracy in some parts of the OSCE region, today’s clashes in the US Capitol send precisely the wrong message,” President Bowness said. “I call upon supporters of President Trump to accept the election results, which have been duly certified, and for the incumbent President to show respect for democratic principles and legal procedures by calling on his supporters to stand down.”

Bowness noted that every legal challenge that has been filed by the Trump campaign has been rejected by US courts and that no credible evidence of widespread fraud has been presented.

In the OSCE’s statement of preliminary findings and conclusions on the US election in November, observers noted that “despite numerous public statements by the incumbent President over the integrity of postal voting, the number and scale of alleged and reported cases of fraud associated to absentee ballots remained negligible.” For the full statement, please click here.