Elections

Our role is to promote and safeguard the use of statistics in public debate. We use our independent voice to stand up for statistics and to represent the public, reporting publicly where we have concerns and highlighting good practice.

OSR’s role in Elections

For statistics to serve the public good, they should support democratic debate. This is particularly important during election campaigns, when statistics play a role in informing decisions made by the electorate. OSR has an important role in promoting and safeguarding the use of statistics in public debate. You can read more about our role during elections in this blog post.

This page brings together our new and existing guidance to help users navigate statistical claims surrounding an election and to support those working with statistics in upholding the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Our election explainers, providing a summary of the available statistics and what to look out for in public statements, are available in our news section.

Election Guidance

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The use of statistics in a pre-election period

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Our Interventions Policy

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Elections: Further support and guidance