US President breaks 20-year tradition by not inviting OSCE observers to midterms
Donald Trump, President of the US (photo: Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump has failed to invite key international observers to monitor the midterm elections for the first time in over 20 years. This decision has drawn harsh criticism worldwide, according to The Hill.
Trump does not invite observers
For the first time since 2002, observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) will not be present at the US elections. Election observation is conducted by the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
ODIHR assesses the electoral environment and provides recommendations to better align it with OSCE commitments regarding democratic standards. However, it does not influence the elections in any way.
Trump’s decision places the US in the same category as isolated, autocratic regimes such as Belarus and Russia. These countries have also refused international observers. Moreover, their recent elections were condemned globally as sham polls.
The US is one of the 57 members of the OSCE - an international organization established after the Cold War to promote democracy and human rights in post-Soviet states.
Criticism of Trump
"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," stated Senator Jeanne Shaheen.
The Trump administration's decision is "pathetic," according to a statement by ODIHR and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly last month.
"After more than two decades in which the United States has welcomed OSCE observers to its federal elections, this decision represents a significant departure from an established democratic practice," said Pere Joan Pons, President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.
Despite its long history, the OSCE election observation mission remains relatively unknown even among legislators and staff on Capitol Hill.
However, the fact that the Trump administration was aware of this practice and demanded the blocking of election observers is a worrying signal. This was stated by Representative Steve Cohen (Democrat from Tennessee), a senior member of the House Helsinki Commission.
"I think Trump doesn’t want any observers at all because I think he’s got some hijinks that he’s going to lay on the nation on Election Day," Cohen told the publication.
Similarly, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), a senior Senate member of the Helsinki Commission, called the absence of OSCE observers a "warning sign for democracy that places the US in the same league as Russia and Belarus" in a statement to The Hill.
Billionaire Elon Musk had already spent about $366 million as part of the 2026 US midterm elections.
Furthermore, Trump speaks of "productive negotiations" with Iran and promises not to bomb the country until November 3, when the US midterm elections will take place.
