Press statement: Bogus “international observation” of the illegitimate Russian “elections” in temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories on 8-10 September 2023
On 10 September 2023, Russian authorities held the annual “single voting day” across the country as well as in Ukrainian territories temporarily occupied by Russia in the period between 2014 and 2022. Those included the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol (occupied and attempted to annex in 2014), parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts […]
Study: Challenges for election campaign finance in Georgia
According to the OSCE Copenhagen Document, signatory states, including Georgia, agree to ensure political campaigning in a fair and free environment. The Venice Commission’s Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters also establishes that equal opportunity shall be guaranteed for parties and candidates alike. To ensure this principle, the 2003 recommendation of the Committee of […]
Statement: The rules for electing the CEC chairperson and professional members is not improved sufficiently
On September 6, five parliamentary majority members submitted two draft laws to the parliament: the amendments to the Election Code of Georgia and the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament of Georgia. These draft laws, if adopted, will once again change the selection rule for electing the members of the Central Election Commission of Georgia […]
First findings of the Promo-LEX observation mission for the General Local Elections in Moldova
On 5 September, Promo-LEX Association launched the work of the 25th Election Observation Mission (OM) and presented the first Monitoring Report of general local elections from 5 November 2023. The Promo-LEX OM consists of the core team and 40 long-term observers (LTOs) who will observe the electoral process throughout the electoral period. On Election Day, […]
US Department of States condemns Russia’s Sham Elections in Ukraine’s Sovereign Territory
EPDE appreciates the statement issued by the US Department of State condemning Russia’s conduct of pseudo-elections in occupied regions of Ukraine. Neither Ukrainian law nor international standards allow the results of such a vote to be recognized. There is not a single precondition or criteria for the holding of fair elections as laid down in […]
How Russia prepares for pseudo-elections in the occupied territories of Ukraine
Russia plans to hold so-called “elections” to the “legislative bodies” (in other words, occupation governments) in the occupied areas of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts as well as in 79 municipal districts this coming fall. The Kremlin’s decision-makers seek to legalize the annexation of Ukrainian territory with the help of so-called “elections”, so they […]
Belarusian human rights organizations respond to Viasna extremist labeling
Statement by Belarusian human rights organizations in connection with the recognition of Viasna as an extremist organization We, the Belarusian human rights organizations, strongly protest against the declaration of the Viasna Human Rights Center as an extremist organization and express our solidarity with our colleagues. On August 23, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the […]
New Policy Paper: Enhancing the integrity of the 2024 European Parliament elections
Brussels, 28 August 2023: Election-Watch.EU (EW), together with the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD), Democracy Reporting International (DRI), and the European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE) published a Policy Paper to the upcoming European Parliament elections in June 2024. The findings and recommendations are outlined in four chapters: 1) Equality and Inclusion, 2) Transparency, 3) Accountability, and 4) Risks and […]
Authorities label Viasna/Human rights in Belarus “extremist formation”
The Viasna Human Rights Center Viasna was recognized as an “extremist formation” by the decision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on August 23. On August 24, it became known that about a hundred information resources and online accounts related to Viasna were added to the “List of organizations, formations, individual entrepreneurs related to extremist […]
Webinar on campaign finance in the run-up to the elections in Slovakia
EPDE’s Slovak partner MEMO98 hosted an expert-based online event focusing on campaign finance which was conducted in August 2023 in cooperation with Transparency International Slovakia and the findings presented (as well as a series of follow-up findings) were disseminated afterward to the expert community and journalists. The video from the event will serve as a […]