1. INTRODUCTION
a. At its meeting on 12 July 2004 the Bureau of the Congress decided to observe the elections for the Assembly of Kosovo on 23 October 2004 and to this effect, designated its delegation as follows: Günther Krug (Germany), Head of Delegation; John Biggs (United Kingdom); Joseph Borg (Malta); Alan Chenard (France); Mohammad Nazir, (United Kingdom); Louis Roppe (Belgium); Gellert Szabo (Hungary); Wim Van Gelder (Netherlands).
The delegation was to be accompanied by Richard Hartley, Secretary of the Chamber of Local Authorities of the Congress and Christine Belenesi, Administrative Assistant of the Congress.
b. The observation mission was somewhat different to customary observation missions of the Congress, in that it formed part of a wider, more general and longer term observation organised by the Council of Europe. The background to this is as follows.
c. On the 5 May 2004, the Ministers’ Deputies accepted the invitation of Harri Holkeri, then Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations in Kosovo, that the Council of Europe organises the international observation of the forthcoming elections for the Kosovo Assembly on 23 October 2004.
d. Accordingly, an Election Observation Mission IV was established, with a Core Team in Pristina and the deployment of 14 long-term observers in different parts of Kosovo, to be followed immediately prior to the election by between 150-180 short-term observers.
e. The Head of Mission was Andrey Tehov, of the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry; and the Deputy Head of Mission from its establishment until the beginning of September was Richard Hartley, of the Congress, followed from the 1 September to the end of the observation period by a fellow colleague of the Congress, György Bergou.
f. Following its establishment on 15 July, the Core-Team held meetings with senior representatives of the international community and electoral bodies; political entities and religious leaders, diplomatic liaison officers, local authorities and their associations, civic society, human rights, election aid organisations and other relevant international organisations.
g. The core-team and the LTOs had also assessed the current political environment in relation to the forthcoming election:– the impact of the major disturbances of 17-18 March, the economic and social background, frustration with the status quo, the platforms of the political entities and the background to the current Serb boycott of the elections.
h. The core team had followed closely the preparations for the elections, looking particularly at the work of the Central Election Commission; the Central Election Commission Secretariat, established by OSCE as a local body, destined in time to assume full responsibility for future elections; the Election Complaints and Appeals Commission; the establishment of Municipal Election Commissions; the registration and certification of the 32 political entities; the situation concerning candidates, to be completed by 24 August; the by mail voting procedures; the arrangements under the voters service and checking of voters lists; the establishment of polling stations and conditional voting; regulations concerning equal access to media and the extent of domestic observation.
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