As European security architecture turns 50, we need dialogue and leadership - Euronews publishes an article with such title. The author of the article is Pia Kauma, the President of OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

“Dialogue and peace efforts are not linear, nor is there a “one size fits all” approach. Within the OSCE PA, we take every opportunity to address the major challenges to peace and security, with the Russian war in Ukraine and the crisis in the Middle East having been at the top of our agenda throughout this year.

I do not expect my parliamentary colleagues and me to mediate final peace processes in these fields, but we can help in many ways. Our dialogue contributes to understanding the complex challenges to peace and human security.

A major component of this is the role that we play in election observation, providing transparency for both citizens and the international community to judge the process through which leaders are chosen.

With election observation, the public is fortunate to have independent authorities that can present an array of facts and information that can serve as a basis for conversation and growth.

For example, I recently led two election observation missions in the United States and in Georgia, where we worked with other international partners to issue authoritative statements on the recent elections.

In the US, our observation found that engagement was high across the political spectrum and that the presidential vote was highly competitive, but public trust was undermined by disinformation and political violence.

In Georgia, where I was also the leader in the previous election, I saw harsh polarisation between the parties but also an election that offered voters a wide choice of options where the candidates could campaign freely.

The more than 500 international observers from 42 countries that contributed to this mission have helped the Georgian people gain insight into how their new government got to power and have provided directional guidance on shortcomings in the electoral process to be addressed in the future.

I have already offered the newly elected Georgian authorities the OSCE PA availability to engage constructively to address in the new legislature the recommendation that will emanate from the ODIHR Final report, which will be soon available.

These are practical building blocks for democratic development and security”, - writes the author.