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For the first time in more than two decades, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) will not conduct oversight of the upcoming midterm elections after the Trump administration effectively blocked them from doing so, raising yet more alarm over the administration’s rapid erosion of free and fair elections in the U.S.

President Donald Trump has declined to invite the OSCE to witness the elections, which the group has done for every federal election since 2002.

The OSCE is an international group of 57 states, largely in the global North, most of which are located in Europe. The United States is a member country. The organization is a partner group to the UN, and was established in the 1970s to address issues of human rights, conflict prevention, and election integrity.

This mandate includes conducting oversight of elections in member countries. During the 2022 midterm elections, for instance, the organization sent a group of observers to examine components of the election like its administration, voter registration, the drawing of electoral maps, election law, and media coverage.

The U.S. joins only Russia and Belarus in rejecting the OSCE’s election monitoring.

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