election-watch.eu

Brussels, 8 December 2023: Six months ahead of the 6-9 June 2024 European Parliament (EP) elections Election-Watch.EU organised an in-person workshop for an EU wide network of election experts and observers. In the framework of the Supporting Engagement in European Elections and Democratic Societies (SEEEDS) project this workshop offered the exchange of ideas and lessons learned on how best to coordinate and focus active citizen participation across the EU Member States and contribute to the integrity of the 2024 EP elections. The objective of the workshop was to strengthen a transnational European network of citizens active for elections and democracy in its capacity to observe and report on the European elections and to increase public awareness across the 27 EU Member States. 

In view of the upcoming elections to the European Parliament in 2024, civil society commitment to defending democracy is more important than ever. The EP elections offer a chance to strengthen citizen participation, improve trust and promote identification with democratic values. The run-up to the 2024 EP elections provides an opportunity to build a collective advocacy agenda with EU policy makers, improve inclusion and address equality for women, youth, voters with disabilities and other underrepresented groups. Innovative approaches for citizen election observation, social media monitoring, youth engagement or citizenship education are already being tested in the EU Member States.

In this workshop, Election-Watch.EU focal points and members of country chapters from 24 EU member states had the opportunity to get to know each other better and prepare themselves for an in-depth citizen-based assessment of the 2024 European Parliament elections. The SEEEDS partners EPD, DRI and EPDE participated and provided substantive inputs. The full workshop programme can be found here.

SEEEDS activities will resume in 2024 with enhanced activities for voter engagement and outreach ahead of the European Parliament elections.

The EU-funded project “Supporting Engagement in European Elections and Democratic Societies” (SEEEDS) aims on raising awareness about the European elections and bridging the gap between active European citizens and EU decision makers.

The SEEEDS project pursues five interlinked objectives:

1. To expand and strengthen civil society engagement in electoral processes;
2. to strengthen the network of electoral experts for an assessment of the European elections in 2024;
3. to develop practical recommendations at European level;
4. to contribute to the fight against disinformation, and;
5. to encourage citizen participation, in particular of women, youth, voters with disabilities, and mobile European citizens.

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