The intergovernmental OSCE organization is considering whether to send a monitoring mission to the upcoming German election after speaking with each of the parties, Spiegel reports. Spiegel reported on Monday that the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is deciding whether to monitor the September 24th German national election. For the first time, delegates from the OSCE met with party leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party at their central headquarters, who provided documentation of “attacks, violence, obstructions, and criminal acts against AfD members through private and public positions” as well as “individual acts and in their alarming sum make up a massive interference in a democratic competition for votes in the parliamentary election campaign.”
Members of the OSCE and its Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) – which is specifically tasked with election observation and democratic development – spoke as well with every other major contender fighting in the campaign. This included Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU and CSU parties, as well as their current coalition partner, the centre-left SPD. The Interior Ministry and Foreign Ministry also spoke with the intergovernmental organization, which in part works to ensure fair elections.
Now the small group of experts consisting of just two men and a woman will decide whether to deploy a specific observation mission to Germany come election time.
In total, the OSCE represents 57 nations, including the United States and Russia.
Full Article: OSCE mulls monitoring German election, as far-right complains of ‘massive interference’ – The Local.