OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights

BELGRADE - Serbian PM Ana Brnabic met with the Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Matteo Mecacci on Thursday to discuss cooperation and recap the results of joint work on improvement of electoral conditions in Serbia during the term of the previous Serbian government.

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has withdrawn from the monitoring of the upcoming elections to the State Duma lower house of parliament, and its further assessments concerning the September election will hardly deserve attention, Russian Foreign Ministry stated at a briefing on Thursday. 

On Monday, a press conference by international observers of Bulgaria's 45th National Assembly elections was held at the Hilton Hotel in the capital.

An 18-member delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), led by Alfred Heer (Switzerland, ALDE), will observe the conduct of the parliamentary elections in Bulgaria, the organization wrote on its website, https://pace.coe.int/, on Monday.

Sunday's presidential election giving Lukashenko a sixth term in office was, like all but one since 1994, deemed by the EU to have been neither free nor fair. Despite a strong challenge from former teacher Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the autocratic president implausibly won 80% of the vote.

Speaking for RTS, referring to the mediation of the European Parliament in the talks between the authorities and the opposition regarding electoral conditions and standards, Fajon claims that OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights - ODHIR's recommendations for fair, democratic and fair elections do exist.

More than 50,000 national and international observers will monitor Bosnia's eight post-war election whose campaign has less than a week to run.

The Central Electoral Committee has accredited 2,9191 observers, but this figure only refers to those who will be observing the CIK and the main vote collection centre.

The European Commission says Sunday's independence referendum in Catalonia was "not legal" but also called on the Spanish government to open dialogue.

A spokesman for the commission, the executive arm of the 28-nation EU, said Monday that "violence can never be an instrument in politics."

Protests broke out across Turkey as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a European observer mission to "know your place" after they criticised Sunday's constitutional referendum, according to Middle East Eye.

Speaking to a rally of supporters in Ankara on Monday he said that some European countries had opposed him winning the referendum more than members of the Turkish opposition.

Turkey slammed a recent report by international observers on the April 16 constitutional referendum, calling it "biased" and "unacceptable" on April 17.