Press TV
2026/10/08
The Trump administration has barred OSCE election observers from the upcoming US midterm elections.
For the first time in more than two decades, the administration of US President Donald Trump has declined to invite international election observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to monitor the upcoming midterm elections, drawing criticism from election experts and human rights groups.
The decision means OSCE observers will be absent from the US midterm elections — scheduled to be held in November — for the first time since 2002.
The move comes as Democrats and election-integrity experts have expressed worries about potential election meddling, particularly after the Justice Department announced plans to deploy its own poll monitors.
The OSCE has already described the decision “regrettable,” stressing that it “is not in line” with existing US commitments to other participating countries, which have agreed to invite election observers.
Human rights organizations have warned the move fuels fears of serious human rights concerns around the upcoming elections.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also alerted that the decision by the White House “risks undermining public trust in America’s safe and secure election system.”
“The Trump administration’s decision not to invite international observers to the United States is deeply antithetical to the spirit of freedom, democracy and transparency that defines our elections,” she stressed.
Shaheen added that the US should hold “itself to the same standards that we would expect of any other democracy.”
This is while a State Department spokesperson defended the decision, saying the OSCE “should focus its limited resources on elections where it can have the greatest impact.”
The OSCE has monitored every US federal election since 2002, including the 2018 midterms during Trump’s first term and the 2024 election, which it deemed “well-run” with candidates campaigning “freely across the country.”
Its observers typically visit polling stations and report on how elections are conducted, without interfering or having enforcement powers.
“Refusing election observers is usually something that countries in a position of weakness do, when they know that they have corrupt or unfair elections,” said Dan Baer, a former US ambassador to the OSCE during the administration of former American president Barak Obama.
“It’s very strange for the United States, which has been historically a standard setter in free and fair elections, to refuse observers,” he noted.
Trump has been campaigning across the country for Republican candidates as the party seeks to maintain its political advantage.
Republicans in some traditionally conservative areas have also faced signs of weakening support, while some members of the party have sought to distance themselves from Trump on issues such as immigration.
With the midterm elections approaching, the extent to which Trump’s declining approval translates into voting behavior could have significant consequences for the balance of power in Washington.
