The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has dispatched its first observers to Poland ahead of the country's October 21 parliamentary elections.
Britain's Julian Peel Yates, who heads the OSCE mission, told reporters his teams will conduct their standard election monitoring operation. He also said they will take a closer look at the Polish news media following complaints about unbalanced television coverage of the election campaign.
Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski had originally said his government would not invite the OSCE to monitor the elections because he felt the group had questioned Poland's democratic credentials.
But last week, Poland invited the organization to conduct its monitoring program after the OSCE agreed to label Poland a stable democracy.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP.