Election alert # 3 – Constitutional amendments in Russia – risk of a legal chaos
Photo: dw.com On January 20, 2020, the president submitted to the State Duma a draft law on amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation “On improving the regulation of certain issues related to the organization of public power”. The highly controversial draft law has already been approved in the first reading by the […]
Pressure against independent observers, candidates and journalists during and since elections
Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center (EMDS) issued a press-release on the physical, psychological and political pressure put on independent observers, candidates, their representatives and journalists since the 9 February early Parliamentary Elections. EMDS notes with regret that observers faced various cases of pressure during the voting and counting processes across the country on Election […]
Planned amendments to the election code threaten transparency of elections
The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy strongly criticizes the bill of amendments to the Election Code of Georgia, initiated in the Parliament of Georgia by the Central Election Commission (CEC) and the parliamentary legal affairs committee, bypassing the electoral reform working group. ISFED believes that some of these changes render useless the mechanisms of transparency […]
Stricter regulation of election campaign financing and party donations needed in electoral law reform
Source: Christian Spicker/ imago images The German Bundestag is currently discussing a reform of the electoral law in order to curb further enlargement of the parliament and increase the proportion of women in parliament. Stefanie Schiffer, Chairperson of the European Platform for Democratic Elections, explains that a reform of the current electoral law must […]
Preliminary report on 9 February 2020 early Parliamentary Elections
EMDS recorded similar violations on E-Day that have occurred in previous elections – one person voting multiple times, bussing of voters, ballot-box stuffing, and voting without registration. These violations were widespread and deliberate. Turnout figures counted by observers were significantly lower than the figures the CEC officially released on their website throughout E-Day. EMDS believes […]
Widespread violations and significantly lower turnout recorded during the early Parliamentary elections
Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre (EMDS) observed yesterday’s early Parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan and recorded similar violations on E-Day that have occurred in previous elections – one person voting multiple times, bussing of voters, ballot-box stuffing, and voting without registration. These violations were widespread and appeared to be deliberate actions aimed at breaching the […]
2nd Interim report of 9 February 2020 early Parliamentary Elections
EMDS notes that there have been cases of pressure against civil society, political activists, candidates, and their relatives in both stages of the Parliamentary elections. The government failed to demonstrate any political will to release more than 100 people who are in jail with politically motivated charges as a result of increased political repression over […]
Increased pressure against civil society and candidates ahead of Sunday’s elections
Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center (EMDS) has carried out long-term observation of 9 February 2020 early Parliamentary Elections in two stages: nomination and registration of the candidates and the pre-election agitation campaign. First interim report on the results of the monitoring in the first stage (9 December 2019 – 16 January 2020) was published […]
Democratic backsliding in Georgia – need to adopt proportional electoral system
ADDRESS OF NGOS TO THE GOVERNMENT ON THE TRANSITION TO THE PROPORTIONAL ELECTORAL SYSTEM The backsliding of democracy in Georgia over the recent period has come under the spotlight by international organizations and representatives of countries friendly to Georgia. Backing out on the promise to adopt a proportional system, the formation process of the […]
Restrictions on political freedoms and violations against opposition continue ahead of early Parliamentary elections
(Parliament of Azerbaijan) Source: European Parliament, Flickr Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center (EMDS) has carried out the long-term observation of 9 February 2020 early Parliamentary Elections. EMDS notes, in comparison with the last Parliamentary elections in 2015 there is an increase in political activeness prior to the current elections due to a large […]