Who watches an election: what do international observers actually do?

International observers are independent outsiders who watch an election and publish what they find. Election monitoring is the observation of an election by independent parties, typically from another country or a non-governmental organization, to assess the process against national law and international standards. Monitors do not directly prevent electoral fraud. They record and report suspicious practices.

It is a fairly recent habit. The first monitored election was an 1857 plebiscite in Moldavia and Wallachia, monitored by most of the major European powers, but monitoring was uncommon until after World War II. During the 1960s, less than 10% of elections were monitored. By the 2000s, about 80% were.

A full mission works over weeks. Experts and long-term observers start weeks before election day, looking at candidate registration, the legal framework, the media situation, the election administration and the campaign environment. Short-term observers join for the final week of the campaign and watch the opening of polling stations, the vote and the count on election day. Afterwards, observers stay for a few weeks to see how complaints are handled by the election administration and the judiciary, and their findings are published in reports.

One of the best-known observers is ODIHR, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the OSCE, originally set up in 1991 as the Office for Free Elections. By its own count, it has deployed more than 470 missions since it was set up over 30 years ago.

Quality varies. Scholars distinguish monitors by quality, and some, often with ties to authoritarian states, validate elections even when they are blatantly flawed.