Algeria rebuffs Brussels’ move to trim down election monitoring mission

The Algerian ministry of foreign affairs has expressed strong reservations about the unexpected decision by the European Union to downscale its team of observers entrusted with monitoring the forthcoming presidential elections slated for April 17th 2014 in Algeria.

According to reports from Brussels, the UE’s decision was motivated by logistical reasons arguing that the European observers would find it difficult to scour the various provinces of the country during the voting operations.

The foreign ministry said that such reasons for reducing to a trickle the EU observation mission were unacceptable as the Algerian authorities had notified Brussels about this file well in advance.

The overall objective of this planned EU election monitoring assignment is to contribute to support democracy, institution building and transparency in Algeria in the context of the country’s presidential elections scheduled for 17 April 2014.

The specific objective of the assignment is to provide reporting to the European Action Service (EEAS) on the ongoing electoral process during and after the elections.

The experts will also provide the EEAS with an analysis relating to recommendations with a view to further aligning all elements of the electoral process to international standards, in line with the criteria in the Commission reports.

Elements of this report may eventually be shared with electoral authorities and the government of Algeria.