"Some recommendations have been addressed, and others have not". OSCE to monitor parliamentary election in Poland

Led by Douglas Wake, the mission consists of 11 international experts from seven OSCE participating States, who will be based in Warsaw. In addition, ODIHR 20 long-term observers will be deployed throughout the country from 8 September.

"I should have already, perhaps, referred to that the format of the mission was determined as a result of something called the Needs Assessment Mission. In this methodology developed by ODIHR over many years, in almost every case where national election is to held, there is a needs assessment mission deployed to see what the conditions are on the ground," Wake said at a press conference in Warsaw on Monday.

He expained that mission experts "go to a country and look at the possible changes in legislation and, most importantly, have meetings the full range of interlocutors". "From government officials, to election officials, to members of parliament from both ruling and opposition parties, if they are willing to meet with the team, the media, civil society, and others."

"The Needs Assessment Mission for the parliamentary elections in Poland took place earlier this year and a report has been published, and it’s available on our website," Wake said.

He added that the report "does begin to assess where certain changes may have been in line with the previous OSCE-ODIHR recommendations, and where certain recommendations remain outstanding".

"In the case of Poland, without going into the substance very deeply, I would say as it’s quite common, some recommendations have been addressed, and others have not."

"ODIHR has instituted, what I think is a very good practice, that in the course of an election alteration mission we look even more systematically at the previous recommendations," Wake added.

"And we will include in the final report our assessment of what has and what has not been done with the recommendations that come from previous elections."

Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki was asked about the OSCE observation mission at a press conference in Tomaszów Mazowiecki. "I would advise to take a close look at all observers from the 2014 local elections - those were democratic elections. Today, it's an open secret everyone confirms that there was gigantic falsification at the time," he said.

"Drawing on those awfully sad experiences, we've been improving this system through additional inspections. I'm in favour of having as many persons of trust as possible, who would keep an eye on others - from all political parties. I warmly invite everyone and I very much hope there will no irregularities," Morawiecki added.

"Elections in Poland have been held in a democratic manner in reent years. If anyone wants to verify anything here, then we have no problems with it whatsoever," the PM said.

The mission will assess the elections for their compliance with OSCE commitments and other international obligations and standards, as well as with national legislation. Observers will follow voter registration, candidate registration, campaign activities, the work of the election administration and relevant state bodies, implementation of the legislative framework, political and campaign finance and the resolution of election-related disputes. They will also assess how prior ODIHR recommendations have been considered. As part of the observation, the LEOM will conduct a comprehensive monitoring of the media.

Meetings with representatives of national authorities, political parties, as well as with representatives from the judiciary, civil society and the media will take place throughout the observation. For election day itself, a delegation from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will join efforts with the ODIHR mission.

While mission members will observe in a number of polling stations across the country to follow election day procedures, in line with ODIHR’s methodology for limited election observation missions, the mission will not carry out systematic or comprehensive observation of the voting, counting and tabulation on election day.

An interim report will be published to update the public and the media during the course of the observation. The day after the elections, a statement of preliminary findings will be presented at a press conference. A final report summing up the observation of the entire electoral process will be published some months after the election process has ended.