US election to have far fewer international observers than planned
Source: The Guardian
US election to have far fewer international observers than planned
Covid concerns and a lack of an invitation for Latin American observers reduce monitoring as US faces fears over fair vote
Julian Borger in Washington
Tue 29 Sep 2020 14.54 BST
There will be far fewer international election observers than planned at this year’s fraught US presidential vote because of a combination of health concerns during the pandemic and the lack of an invitation from the state department for Latin American observers.
The electoral arm of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has had to scale down its ambitions because of Covid-related precautions and travel restrictions. It is sending 30 observers, instead of the 500 that had been recommended in view of the scale of concern about the US election.
The Organization of American States (OAS) has yet to receive an invitation to send observers to the 3 November vote, which is threatening to be the most contentious in modern US history as Donald Trump himself repeatedly claims it will be rigged and refuses to say whether he will leave the White House if defeated at the polls.
The OSCE’s election monitoring body, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), had intended to send 100 long-term and 400 short-term observers, after its assessment mission warned the election “will be the most challenging in recent decades”.
But a cautious response from the OSCE member states who have the responsibility for recruiting and funding the trained observers meant the plans had to be drastically downsized.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/28/us-election-observers-europe-latin-america
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