electoral process have complied with the legal principles based on integrity and transparency, while ensuring that all the candidates and their agents complied with the rules governing electoral propaganda and the checks on its exercise, including respect for the election silence period. 20. The NIHR has implemented a series of measures prior to announcing its intention to participate in observing the parliamentary and municipal elections of 2018. The first measure is to develop and advance the skills of the employees of the Secretariat of the NIHR in the field of monitoring and observing the electoral process through participating in a workshop on “Elections and the role of national institutions in monitoring elections” in Khartoum, Republic of Sudan. In addition, the NIHR participated in a training workshop on “Monitoring the role of the media during elections” in the Sultanate of Oman. It also participated in a three-day course on “Follow up and monitoring of the electoral process” as part of the National Program on Elections of 2018 “Darreb” (Train), organized by the Bahrain Institute for Political Development. This course included five lectures: the first was on the legislation governing the electoral process; the second on electoral irregularities and crimes; the third on the electoral monitoring skills; the fourth on the election campaigns; and the fifth lecture was on the preparation of the final report on the electoral process. 21. In order to ensure that observing the parliamentary and municipal elections is based on clear and specific legal and practical rules that enable monitors to be familiar with the observation and monitoring aspects in a manner consistent with the provisions of the law governing the electoral process, the NIHR developed a form for monitoring the electoral process on polling day. The form included eighty-eight (88) indicators that cover the course of this process from its very beginning, which precedes the opening of polling stations for voters to cast their ballots, to commencement of poll until its completion, without overlooking the sorting, counting, and announcing the final results stage. The monitor (observer) responds to these indicators in the light of observations that he/she personally monitored at the electoral center, and includes in the form any observations he deems appropriate and worth mentioning in this regard. 22. Subsequently, the NIHR addressed the Minister of Justice, Islamic Affairs, and Endowments (Awqaf) in his capacity as Chairman of the Supreme Committee for the General Supervision of the Soundness of Elections, expressing its desire to participate in observing the parliamentary and municipal elections of 2018 and to obtain the cards authorizing them to enter all ballot and counting stations, after completing the election monitoring forms and the rules and ethics of monitoring and signing them by the NIHR monitoring team. 12