ODIHR opens limited election observation mission in Poland

Warsaw, 14 April 2025 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today opened a limited election observation mission for the 18 May 2025 presidential election in Poland, following an invitation from the national authorities.

The mission is led by Dunja Mijatović and consists of 12 international experts based in Warsaw and 16 long-term observers, who will be deployed throughout the country from 19 April.

The mission will assess the election for its 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, including online, the work of the election administration and relevant state bodies, implementation of the legislative framework, political and campaign finance and the resolution of election disputes. They will also assess the implementation of previous ODIHR recommendations. Comprehensive media monitoring forms an integral part of the observation.

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. On election day itself, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will join efforts with the ODIHR mission.

The limited election observation format is used where concerns identified in ODIHR’s pre-election needs assessment centre on the pre-election environment, election preparations, the campaign, media coverage, and the handling of election disputes, and do not focus on the voting process on election day. In line with ODIHR’s methodology for this observation format, there will therefore be no systematic or comprehensive observation of the voting, counting and tabulation on election day, although mission members will observe in a number of polling stations across the country to follow election day procedures.

An interim report will be published to update the public and the media during the course of the observation. The day after the election, 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.

Further information on ODIHR’s election observation activities in Poland is available here: https://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/poland

Media contacts:

Egor Tilpunov, Media Analyst: egor.tilpunov@odihr-leom.pl and +48 724 530 079

or

Katya Andrusz, ODIHR Spokesperson, katya.andrusz@odihr.pl and +48 609 522 266