Election experts from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) presented their final report on Italy's 2022 parliamentary elections in Rome this week, discussing the report's key findings and recommendations with government officials, representatives of election administration, both houses of the Italian Parliament, the media regulatory body, the public broadcaster and the Court of Audit.
Discussions focused on consolidation of electoral legislation, enhancement of transparency of campaign finance, balanced campaign coverage by media, in particular online, efforts to increase women's active participation in political life, and the need to ensure standardised training of poll workers.
"We very much appreciate the ongoing co-operation and dialogue with the Italian authorities," said Eoghan Murphy, Head of the ODIHR Election Assessment Mission for the 2022 parliamentary elections. "We have had a very positive engagement on ODIHR electoral recommendations and welcome plans for further reforms."
ODIHR also discussed the sharing of best practices across the OSCE region and potential areas for further co-operation in bringing Italy's elections closer in line with international standards and commitments.
ODIHR election observation activities also assess the country's efforts to implement previous recommendations through changes in legislation, procedures and practices. For Italy, the ODIHR mission evaluated the follow-up to recommendations on the 2018 parliamentary elections and concluded that one had been fully implemented, another one had been mostly implemented, five were partially addressed and 12 remain to be addressed.
In the 1999 OSCE Istanbul Document, all OSCE participating States committed themselves to "follow up promptly the ODIHR's election assessment and recommendations".
