election-watch.eu

Vienna, 3 September 2025: Since the 2000s, various institutions have begun conducting international election observation missions, frequently parallel to those of established organisations. While many of these institutions collaborate actively and report on the qualities and shortcomings of electoral processes, others have endorsed the same elections that have been condemned by others. One such institution is the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which has been accused of ‘shadow’ observation practices aimed at legitimising autocratic governments in the post-Soviet sphere.

In his 2025 Election Law Journal article, ‘Mimicking Election Observation: The Politics of Parallel Election Observation’, Election-Watch.EU researcher Markus Pollak explores the CIS’s parallel observation practices in elections already observed by the OSCE. Based on an analysis of 16 preliminary statements from OSCE and CIS missions, as well as 13 interviews with high-level practitioners, Pollak argues that parallel election observation should be understood as a power-political strategy of liberal mimicry aimed at contesting OSCE practices and reinterpreting the meaning of the promotion of liberal democracy. Leveraging narratives of liberal pluralism, national sovereignty, local ownership, critique of a technocratic focus on details, and rejection of ‘Western’ universalism, CIS observers claim to offer an alternative interpretation of electoral truth. By contesting OSCE observation findings, they contribute to the increasing fragmentation of the field and contest liberal ordering practices from within liberal discourse.

Besides his journal article, Markus Pollak published an open-access summary of his key findings on E-IR, which can be accessed here.

accountability, cis observers, election observers, election security, transparency