Observers from the OSCE - the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe - have monitored 12 federal elections in the United States since 2002, but will not monitor the US congressional elections on November 3 this year.
"After more than two decades of the United States welcoming OSCE observers to its federal elections, this decision represents a significant departure from established democratic practice," the OSCE wrote in a statement, stressing that the decision is both "regrettable" and contrary to the commitments that all OSCE countries - including the United States - have made since 1990.
