On September 2016, Uzbekistan’s Central Election Commission sent an invitation to the OSCE/ODIHR to take part in the observation of presidential elections scheduled for 4 December this year.

In accordance with the established practice, the OSCE/ODIHR takes decision on the need to observe the elections, the format of observation mission, its duration and the number of observers required as a result of the evaluation of pre-election environment and the preparations for the elections, analysis of compliance of the national electoral legislation with universally accepted international standards.

The needs assessment is carried out ahead of the elections and, as a rule, within 2-3 days by the specialists of the Elections Department of ODIHR in accordance with the methodology described in the Guidelines for Election Observation published by the Office in 2010 in the sixth edition.

This time around, the ODIHR decided to send the Needs Assessment Mission (NAM) in the period from 11 to 14 October 2016, composed by the head of ODIHR Elections Department Alexander Shlyk (Belarus) and elections advisor of the Department Ulvi Akhundlu (Azerbaijan).

During the visit of the NAM, meetings are envisaged in Uzbekistan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Central Election Commission, the Supreme Court, the Legislative Chamber and Senate of Oliy Majlis, Ministry of Justice, the National Center for Human Rights, the National Broadcasting Company, the Uzbek Agency for Press and Information, as well as with officials of political parties, the Commissioner of the Oliy Majlis for Human Rights and representatives of civil society institutions.

Following the meetings, NAM is expected to elaborate its conclusion, which will reflect the criteria such as availability of minimum conditions for an effective, reliable and professional observation of elections, political pluralism, transparency and the society’s confidence in the electoral process, as well as the implementation of the ODIHR recommendations offered as a result of monitoring the previous elections.