EPDE protests against classification as “undesirable organization” in Russia
Berlin, 14.03.2018 On 13 March 2018, the European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE), a civil society network of independent election observation organizations, and its Lithuanian member International Elections Study Center (IESC) were classified as “undesirable organizations” by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation. Stefanie Schiffer, EPDE board member, commented: “We protest against the […]
Experts’ discussion: Russia before the election
On 1 March 2018, the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) and the European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE) jointly hosted the experts’ discussion “Russia before the presidential elections”. The event, moderated by EPDE board member Stefanie Schiffer, saw statements by Andrei Buzin and Stanislav Andreichuk, both board members of the Russian movement […]
Belarus after the local elections: Is the revival of the Belarusian electoral system possible?
On 18 February 2018, the local elections in Belarus were over. Independent Belarusian media once again reported high turnout, while voters generally showed little interest. The independent civil society election observation initiative “Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections” even speaks of the “worst and dirtiest elections ever” and points out new methods of electoral […]
Golos investigation on how pseudo-public organizations simulate civic participation in Russian elections
Painting: Vasya Lozhkin http://vasya-lozhkin.ru/pictures/khor/ A low level of real political competition has been a marked characteristic of the 2018 presidential election campaign in the Russian Federation. The low level of political competition has largely been caused by a significant imbalance in resources that the candidates possess. Abuses of administrative resources are the most evident […]
Smokescreen: How pseudo-public organizations simulate civic participation in Russian elections
A low level of real political competition has been a marked characteristic of the 2018 presidential election campaign in the Russian Federation. The low level of political competition has largely been caused by a significant imbalance in resources that the candidates possess. The obvious abuse of administrative resources was a catalyst for this investigation. It […]
Presidential Election: Latest reports and analyses
The Golos Movement presents analyses, reports and briefings concerning the Russian Presidential Election, that will take place on 18 March, 2018. On the implementation of recommendations from the final reports of the OSCE/ODIHR following the Russian presidential elections of 2004 and 2012, and the State Duma deputy elections of 2003, 2011, and 2016 More […]
Final report
The elections were very passive and hardly visible to the public. Despite the absence of any significant violations and obstacles at the electoral phases of registration of nomination groups, collecting of signatures and election campaigning, the stages that followed, including early voting, counting of the votes and the tabulation of voting results in higher commissions, […]
Local elections in Belarus: Final report
FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS Elections of deputies of local councils of the 28th convocation, which began on November 14, 2017, took place against the background of an overall deterioration of the political situation in the country compared to the previous period of ‘soft practices’ lasting between August 2015 and February 2017. The period ended with a […]
Electoral system of Belarus requires urgent reanimation
Photo: Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections Elections to the local councils did not meet a number of key international standards for democratic and free elections, coordinators of the campaign “Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections” said at a press conference on February 19 in Minsk. One of the two coordinators, a representative of […]
Report on monitoring the phase of election campaigning
The citizen observers inititive Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections claims that this year’s election is marked by a greater number of locations for campaigning events, a lack of information in the government-owned media candidates from the opposition, the use of administrative resources in favor of pro-government candidates. This created unequal conditions for other candidates. […]