The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has today published the report on the needs assessment for the May 11 elections.

ODIHR recommends a core team of election monitoring experts with the participation of 26 long-term observers to follow the electoral process nationwide, as well as 300 short-term observers to observe election day procedures, including voting, counting and tabulation of votes results.

The representatives of the state institutions informed that all measures would be taken to ensure a transparent election process and acknowledged the added value of the recommendations following an ODIHR election observation activity.

The OSCE undertook a Needs Assessment Mission (NAM) in Albania from 3 to 6 December 2024. The NAM included Ulvi Akhundlu, Deputy Head of the Electoral Department of ODIHR and Kakha Inaishvili, Electoral Adviser of ODIHR. The ODIHR NAM was joined by Sherif Abdili, Program and Administrative Officer of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

The purpose of the mission was to assess the pre-election environment and preparations for the elections. This mission recommends whether to establish an ODIHR election-related activity for the upcoming elections and, if so, what type of activity best meets the identified needs. Meetings were held with officials of state institutions and the electoral administration, as well as with representatives of political parties, media, civil society and the international community.