Parliamentary elections in Belarus did not meet a number of key international standards for democratic and free elections
CONCLUSIONS This year’s parliamentary elections were called against the backdrop of a complicated geopolitical situation in the world and Europe, in particular, which is primarily due to the Russian-Ukrainian crisis. Despite the fact that the vote was accompanied by unfavorable trends in social and economic spheres, the campaign took place against a more favorable internal […]
Report on Election Campaigning
In most regions, the conditions for campaigning were improved as compared to the previous elections. However, the candidates were not provided with equal rights; pro-government candidates enjoyed better conditions for campaigning: they made extensive use of the administrative resources, including electronic and print media; there were cases of pro-government candidates’ meetings with voters during working […]
Belarus: Citizen election observers’ conclusions on the conduct of the election campaign
CONCLUSIONS – the campaign was held within the time limits set by the Electoral Schedule (from the date of the registration of candidates on September 10, inclusive); the campaign was largely low key, failing to attract much public attention; – in most regions, the conditions for campaigning were improved as compared to the elections […]
Opinion on the proposed amendments to the Constitution and preparations to the Referendum
August 19, 2016 Baku, Azerbaijan ELECTION MONITORING AND DEMOCRACY STUDIES CENTRE OPINION on proposed amendments to the Constitution of Azerbaijan and preparations to the 26 September 2016 Referendum I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Following the proposal submitted by the President on 18 July 2016 and approval by the Constitutional Court on 26 July, Azerbaijan will hold […]
Russian Propaganda against Citizens’ Election Observers from GOLOS-Movement
On Friday, August 26th – three weeks ahead of the elections to the State Duma – the Russian government-controlled TV channel NTV broadcasted a documentary “The Secret of Golos”. This is already the fifth NTV report broadcasted in prime time which aims at discrediting citizens’ election observers in Russia. The film is based on […]
Parliamentary elections in Russia: Registration of political parties and candidates
SUMMARY 74 parties had the formal right to nominate candidates for the election of deputies to the State Duma in 2016. However, only one-third of those parties attempted to take part in the 2016 State Duma elections because the Russian electoral system combines excessive demands on the number of signatures necessary for candidate […]
Belarus: Progovernmental Candidates Dominate in Precinct Election Commissions
Analytical Report on the Formation of Precinct Election Commissions Observation is carried out by activists of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee and the Human Rights Center “Viasna” in the framework of the campaign Human Rights Defenders For Free Elections I. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS – on July 27, local authorities completed the formation of precinct election commissions, which […]
First EPDE Capacity Bilding Camp took place in Moldova
On 25-30 July 2016 the first Capacity Building Camp of the EPDE took place in Moldova. Over 100 election observers, experts and volunteers from 13 EPDE member organizations participated in the event. The camp provided for several experts’ presentations, trainings and seminars on capacity buidling, campaign financing, fake observation, statistical analysis, IT-security and other […]
EPDE held a seminar for election observers in Tbilisi
The two-day seminar which was held on June 18-19 in Tbilisi gathered 20 observers from different EPDE member organisations. The main focus of the seminar was put on establishing and maintaining contacts with journalists and mass media. The EPDE observers got an insight into the specific media formats in different countries. Also, they discussed […]
Registration of political parties and candidates
74 parties had the formal right to nominate candidates for the election of deputies to the State Duma in 2016. However, only one-third of those parties attempted to take part in the 2016 State Duma elections because the Russian electoral system combines excessive demands on the number of signatures necessary for candidate registration with extremely […]