FURIC 2025 | Concluding Document and Recommendations
Against the backdrop of intensifying digital interference and rising authoritarian influence, FURIC 2025 focused on measures to ensure transparency, accountability, and public trust in elections. Building on past recommendations, the conference set concrete priorities: enhancing collaboration among stakeholders, countering disinformation and foreign interference, and addressing emerging risks such as algorithmic manipulation and hybrid threats. With […]
WHDC Side Event: Citizen Observation under Pressure: Safeguarding the Space to Monitor Elections
On 7 October, at the 2025 Warsaw Human Dimension Conference, European Platform for Democratic Elections and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) hosted a side event on the challenges citizen election observers face in today’s fast-changing electoral landscape. Speakers shared key developments from across the region: Speakers Moderated by Zofia Lutkiewicz, […]
Statement | On Credible Election Observation and Institutional Responsibility: EPDE’s Response to the CEC of Georgia
We have reviewed the press release published by the CEC of Georgia on 17 October 2025 in reaction to our statement “The Crisis of Credibility” on fake observers at the Georgian local elections. We appreciate the CEC’s engagement and welcome any opportunity to compare evidence and standards. EPDE’s work is based on the Declaration of […]
Statement | The Crisis of Credibility: Fake Observers at the October 4, 2025, Georgian Local Elections
The European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE) identified 29 fake observers who assisted the Georgian government in lending an appearance of legitimacy to the local elections on October 4, 2025. It is the second time that the Georgian ruling party, “Georgian Dream,” has invited politically biased observers to obscure irregularities flagged by credible observers in […]
Elections as a Double-Edged Sword – Strengthening Democracy or Enabling Autocracy
The EPDE together with MEMO 98 hosted a panel at the 29th Forum 2000 Conference in Prague on 13 October with Rasto Kuzel, Beata Martin-Rozumilowicz, Nino Dolidze, Mulle Musau, and Stefanie Schiffer. Drawing on experiences from Slovakia, Georgia, Moldova and Kenya, the panel explored how elections have become battlegrounds in the global struggle between democracy […]
“When observers are silenced, democracy loses its witnesses.” – EPDE board member Zosia Lutkiewicz delivers intervention at WHDC
EPDE board member Zosia Lutkiewicz delivered an intervention at the 2025 Warsaw Human Dimension Conference highlighting the climate of repression and narrowing spaces for election observers and ways to respond. Citizen election observers are often the first to notice when democracy begins to close. When civic space narrows, it shows first in the polling station, […]
WHDC Side Event: Citizen Observation under Pressure: Safeguarding the Space to Monitor Elections
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 […]
FURIC 2025 | Technologies for Trust: Innovating for Election Integrity in a Changing Global Order
The Follow-Up on Recommendations’ Implementation Conference (FURIC 2025) returned to Brussels for its third edition on September 23–24, 2025, this year organised in cooperation with European Parliament’s Democracy Support and Election Coordination Group (DEG) and OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR). In times of increasing digital interference and authoritarian influence on elections […]
Defending Electoral Integrity in the Digital Age. EPDE at the Money in Politics Conference
EPDE board member Zosia Lutkiewicz, President of the Political Accountability Foundation, took part in the 2025 edition of the Money in Politics conference, held on 8-9 July in Chișinău, Republic of Moldova. The conference provided a focused platform for examining the growing vulnerabilities at the intersection of political finance and digital campaigning. This year, key […]
Future proofing election observation with EPDE’s ElectLab
The landscape of election observation is changing rapidly. While traditional monitoring methods remain essential, today’s observers face an increasingly complex array of hybrid threats to election integrity. From artificial intelligence and platform manipulation to foreign interference and data protection risks, the challenges demand new skills and approaches from election observers. Recognising the urgency of this […]