Kremlin’s 10 Disinformation Narratives on COVID-19 in Georgia
In Georgia and the Western countries, coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is accompanied by a powerful campaign of information manipulation in social media, for disinformation and discrediting purposes. As the international crisis unfolds, intensified Russian disinformation campaign in Georgia, attempts to distort reality, demonstrate the need to distancing Georgia from the West, covertly attacks democratic institutions, tries […]
Parliament must resume electoral reform and prepare for local elections
Civil Network OPORA hereby urges the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the parliamentary committee on the organization of state power, regional development, local self-government, and urban planning to resume and intensify the electoral reform process and the legislative preparations for the regular local elections in Ukraine. The most recent public and expert discussion in this committee […]
Postponed elections due to COVID-19
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak many countries have had to make drastic changes, including to their planned elections. Due to restrictions on mass gatherings and self-isolation requirements, many elections have been postponed. Every election planned for March 2020 and the following weeks has been postponed indefinitely. EPDE member Civil Network OPORA created this infographic based […]
Fake election observation as Russia’s tool of election interference: The Case of AFRIC
In this report, Anton Shekhovtsov analyzes how the structures of “Putin’s Chef” Yevgeniy Prigozhin interfere in electoral processes in African countries with the help of fake election observation. This report focuses on the Association for Free Research and International Cooperation (AFRIC), an organization that Shekhovtsov has previously investigated and found to be involved in politically […]
Preliminary report on Kharkiv region by-elections
On March 15, 2020, voting took place at the interim elections of the people’s deputy of Ukraine in constituency 179. Civil Network OPORA conducted an independent non-party monitoring of all stages of the electoral process, including the election day, and the vote count. Before the election day, OPORA noted a competitive nature of the election […]
By-elections Moldova – low turnout due to COVID-19 and authorities’ unclear response
Context On 27 December 2019 the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) set the date for holding the new parliamentary elections in the single-member constituency (SMC) no. 38 from Hincesti for 15 March 2020. We reiterate the Promo-LEX opinion according to which the date for the new parliamentary elections has been set by the CEC with delay, […]
Need for unbiased formation of PECs ahead of referendum
Before the approval of the composition of precinct electoral commissions of the constitutional referendum, ″Independent Observer″ Alliance received alarms stating that in the process of the examination of commission members, ″parallel examinations″ were conducted, during which credentials were also given to ″acquaintances″ of precinct electoral commission members. Later, certain persons willing to be included in […]
Kharkiv region by-elections: OPORA records some violations but generally campaign meets basic democratic standards
A positive factor is the lack of confirmed facts of voter bribery or other forms of material incentives for citizens. However, these interim elections have illustrated yet another time the need to enhance the mechanisms of transparency and accountability of electoral finance. In fact, only 26 out of 40 registered candidates opened the accounts of […]
CEC failed to analyze 2019 financial reports of political parties
Members of the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections, including EPDE member Promo-LEX, – draw attention to the fact that, contrary to provisions of the law on political party financing, the CEC did not verify or analyze the financial management reports submitted by political parties to the Commission within a reasonable time for the […]
Russia election alert #3
On January 20, 2020, the president of Russia submitted to the State Duma a draft law on amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation. To pass these amendments, authorities have also proposed to call an “all-Russian vote”. These attempts to amend the constitution by calling such a vote instead of through existing legal procedures […]