As one of the foundations of democracy is free elections, how elections are conducted constitutes an important indicator of the functioning and robustness of the democratic procedures in any country. Solidarity Fund PL — in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland — recruits, prepares, and dispatches Polish observers to post-Soviet states to participate in election-observation missions, organised by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (ODIHR/OSCE). Short missions last about seven days, while long-term observations can take 40-50 days. First-time observers undergo specialist training organised by the Fund.

Since 2012, the Fund has sent 610 Polish observers (including 44 long-term) to 52 election-observation missions. These included presidential, parliamentary, and local elections in Georgia, Moldova, Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Additionally, the Fund has supported a citizens’ observation mission during Ukrainian elections (2012), citizens’ monitoring of election campaign financing in Moldova (2014), and a national elections monitoring by Transparency International in Georgia (2016).

Find out more on election observation (in Polish) here