“OSCE observers will not control the parliamentary election in Poland,” says the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The OSCE spokesperson for Poland, Urdur Gunnarsdottir, however, said that Poland is obliged to let the OSCE observers in for the election and stressed that on the same day (21 October) Switzerland is holding an election, which will be monitored by the OSCE.

Robert Szaniawski, spokesperson for the Polish Foreign Ministry, explained the decision of the government by saying that “Poland is a country with a stable democracy and there is no need for the OSCE teams to observe the election in our country”.

He added that the OSCE, when asking Poland to let the observers in, made no accusation concerning the possible irregularities during the upcoming election in Poland.

At the beginning of September former Czech president Vaclav Havel caused an uproar among the Polish politicians by saying that it would be good if international observers came to Poland for the election in October.

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights is based in Warsaw, Poland.

Its main fields of operation are election observation, democratic development, human rights, tolerance and non-discrimination, and rule of law.

The OSCE observers are sent to monitor elections, especially if there are any doubts concerning their fairness and reliability.