Post-Election political standstill, flawed electoral complaint practices, and the one-party parliament
Opposition supporters attend a rally against the results of a parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia November 14, 2020. Source: REUTERS /Irakli Gedenidze Second Round of Elections On 21 November, Georgia held the runoff in 17 single mandate constituencies. The opposition candidates withdrew from the contest and did not run electoral campaigns. However, their names […]
Final observation report shows electoral process did not comply with international standards
The non-partisan observation initiative “Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections” has published the final analytical report on the results of observation of the 2020 presidential elections in the Republic of Belarus. The document draws final conclusions about every phase of the election. The electoral process at all its stages did not comply with a number […]
UPDATE: Results of parallel vote tabulation
The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) conducted a preliminary, internal audit of the results of the parallel vote tabulation (PVT) of the October 31 Parliamentary elections. The internal audit is a standard procedure and consists of four stages: 1. Audit of data sent by observers; 2. checking changes to the PEC protocols […]
Post-election detainees deprived of the right to a fair trial – finds new report
A coalition of Belarusian human rights defenders presented today a report entitled “Belarus. August 2020: “Justice” for Protesters.” It highlights violations of the standards of a fair trial after tens of thousands of peaceful demonstrators protested the rigged presidential election and thousands were detained en masse and were convicted in August 2020. The report was […]
Competitive second round mayoral election in Kryvyi Rih
On 6 December 2020, the second round of mayoral election took place in Kryvyi Rih. Kostiantyn Pavlov (Opposition Platform – For Life) competed with Dmytro Shevchyk (Servant of the People). According to the 25 October vote results, these candidates took the second and third places, respectively, while the candidate with the largest number of votes, […]
International experts’ endorsed controversial all-Russian voting on constitutional amendments
French far-right MEP Julie Lechanteux giving an interview to the Russian TV, with Johan Bäckman in the background. Source: Twitter account Lechanteux The “all-Russian voting” on President Putin’s proposed constitutional amendments, which would allow him to stay in power until 2036, was held between 25 June and 1 Jul 2020. Since the “all-Russian voting” […]
Money and politics – need for new rules of the game
In recent years, election experts observed significant increase of spending on election campaigns. The transparency of party and campaign financing became one of the key requirements to ensure the integrity of today’s election processes. Along with elections in Austria, Italy, Israel and Japan, election campaign expenditures are rising particularly sharply in the USA. In the […]
Joint Statement On Restoring Political Party Reporting Deadlines
Photo: ifesukraine.org Background: On April 2, 2020, a range of legal changes titled, “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Aimed at Providing Additional Social and Economic Guarantees in Connection with the Spread of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)” came into force. These amendments included changes to Ukraine’s Political Party Law which deferred political parties’ […]
Human Rights Situation in November 2020
People demonstrate during the March of Neighbors on November 29 in Minsk. Photo: belsat.eu Summary: During the month, the authorities continued to actively prosecute citizens for political reasons. There are 146 political prisoners held in prisons, as their number continues to increase. A total of over 900 individuals have been targeted by criminal cases […]
Chernivtsi mayoral runoff – no critical disruptions in election administration
On 29 November 2020, the second round of mayoral election was held in Chernivtsi. The vote took place at 115 polling stations, with approximately 185.5 thousand voters included in voter lists. Candidate Roman Klichuk (The Only Alternative party cell) competed with Vitalii Mykhailishyn (The Mykhailishyn Team party cell). OPORA has realized long-term and short-term […]
