All guests of the 2025 Warsaw Human Dimension Conference (WHDC) are invited to attend EPDE-ODIHR side event scheduled for 7 October, 18:30–19:30 in Meeting Room 1 – Belweder

Foreign interference, disinformation, and opaque political financing are reshaping elections across the OSCE region, creating new demands on citizen observers. As these risks grow, domestic monitoring organisations must refine their methodologies while contending with limited access to key stages of the electoral process and a steadily narrowing space for independent observation in a political climate that increasingly questions their neutrality. Hosted by the European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE) and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, with contributions from citizen observer organisations from Central and Eastern Europe, this side event will explore how citizen monitoring can adapt to these pressures, strengthen cooperation with international observation, and remain a trusted safeguard of electoral integrity.

The event is open to all guests of the WHDC. There is no special registration required.

Speakers

• Vardine Grigoryan, Program Manager at Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor, Armenia
• Levan Natroshvili, Executive Director at the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), Georgia
• Mihaela Duca-Anghelici, Chief of Analysis and Research team at Promo-LEX, Moldova
• Ulvi Akhundlu, Deputy Head of the Election Department, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)

The event will be moderated by Zofia Lutkiewicz, Director of the Political Accountability Foundation (Poland), Board Member of the European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE) and Board Member of the Global Network of Domestic Election Monitors (GNDEM).

Details

• Side Event: Citizen Observation under Pressure: Safeguarding the Space to Monitor Elections
• Time: 18:30–19:30 CET
• Venue: Sofitel Victoria Warsaw, Królewska St. 11, 00-065, Warsaw
• Room: Meeting Room 1 – Belweder
• Language: English