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It does not come as a complete surprise that the FCO is ‘re-evaluating our elections monitoring strategy to see how we can maximise our impact’. That reads to me like saving money by not sending me on anymore Election Observation Missions – rats and double-rats.

What is the impact of sending UK observers? There are three aspects; the least important is Team UK meeting observers from some forty other countries and being agreeable; exuding soft power. This is worth something but not much. Secondly we meet  local election officials and voters and of course get to know our drivers and interpreters. This, I believe, often changes their perception of the UK in a positive way but the Big Bang the FCO want for their euro (all election missions are accounted for in euros) is to improve democratic standards. In this OSCE/ODHIR has achieved a lot. The people of many countries want free and fair elections and in many instances OSCE/ODHIR recommendations have been implemented.

It seems to me we are now at a watershed where the countries that have democratic principles no longer need so much help. Their elections could be monitored by a small core team of experts, as happens at UK elections. There are other countries that are not going to change their ways no matter how many observers flood in to observe. I’ve been to one and got the stamp in my passport. So might it make sense for the UK to stop funding Election Observation Missions? This is debatable but what is for sure is the annual contribution the UK makes to fund OSCE/ODHIR. This is opaque, at least to me, but the UK contributes 5.4% to the OECD budget and if the same proportion goes to OSCE/ODHIR it’s more than seven million euros.

I don’t know what it costs every year to send observers from the UK but maybe something approaching a million – probably a lot less – it all depends on the number of missions and how many observers are sent – the FCO decides. If no observers are sent it’s like paying the subscription to a club and not using it.