INTRODUCTION

The OSCE/ODIHR mission assessed compliance of the electoral process with OSCE commitments and other international obligations and standards for democratic elections, as well as national legislation. This wording, with slight variations, can nowadays be found in the introductory section of all final reports issued by election observers of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). These reports also contain recommendations addressed to the national authorities, political parties, and other electoral stakeholders aimed at improving compliance with international standards for democratic elections. In this contribution, we explore how election observers understand and apply ‘international electoral standards’ and how this application projects into their recommendation-making.

This contribution consists of two main sections. In the first section, we take a look at the meaning of ‘standards’ in the context of international election observation. We demonstrate the difficulties with trying to define this term precisely. In the second section we explore the language in which ODIHR election observers formulate their recommendations. We draw conclusions from these analyses.

Our research is based on reports by ODIHR and our conclusions are relevant to the institutional practice of this observer organisation. The same considerations may also be applicable to the work of other international observers who follow similar practices in referencing international standards and recommendation-making.

INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS FOR DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS

WHAT CONSTITUTES ‘STANDARDS’?

Advocates for assessing elections against international human rights law have argued that this approach would help election observers to provide a more nuanced assessment of the process than the simplistic ‘free and fair’ formula.