Chapter 1: International Standards oversee all aspects of the voting process. Similarly, the Organization of American States (OAS) has established guidelines that ensure observation teams are managed by professionals with considerable experience.311 One of the specific objectives of the OAS international electoral observation efforts is “to assist, by means of their presence, in dissuading potential irregularities” on Election Day.312 The international observers need, therefore, to clearly understand the electoral process, including complaint adjudication, in order to adequately report any fraud or other election offenses they may witness. The Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan issued a Code of Conduct for observers that states that “all necessary measures must be taken to ensure that the representatives are familiar with and follow the Electoral Law, this Code of Conduct, instructions regarding electoral violations, and any directions, information, guidance, or other instructions and notifications of IEC, the Electoral Complaints Commission or the Secretariat of the IEC.”313 The OAS in its guidelines for observers insists on maintaining a policy of strict neutrality in its observation missions, preventing observers from intervening in or giving support to any part of the electoral process.314 However, in countries such as Ethiopia, international observers can ask questions as long as they do not disturb the voter and may bring irregularities they observe to the attention of election officers at the polling stations or counting venues.315 While the electoral laws of many countries only allow observers to bring irregularities to the attention of election officials, a few countries, like Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Geor- General Secretariat Organization of American States, Best Practices in OAS Electoral Observation, 2004-2007, at 28-29 (2008) [hereinafter GS/OAS Best Practices]. 312 Id. at 7, 22. 313 Independent Electoral Commission of Afghanistan, Code of Conduct of Observers (2008), available at http://www.iec.org.af/pdf/code_of_conduct/english/observers_code_of_conduct.pdf; see also Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Independent Election Commission Secretariat, Fact Sheet: Agents and Observers, available at http://www.iec.org.af/assets/ pdf/factsheet/eng/fs8E.pdf 314 GS/OAS Best Practices, supra note 311, at 7. 315 National Electoral Board of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Code of Conduct of International Election Observers, § 3(c)(g) [hereinafter Ethiopia Code of Conduct] (“Election observers may bring to the attention of election officers at the polling stations or counting venues any irregularities they might have observed.”). 311 91