election-watch.eu

Brussels, Vienna 28 August 2024: Election-Watch.EU will present an overview of findings and recommendations of its Election Assessment Mission (EAM) to the 2024 Elections at the SEEEDS webinar on Tuesday, 24 September at 16:00 hours. 

Election-Watch.EU has been collecting good electoral practices in EU Member States  and with the Final EAM Report as reference, continues to focus on electoral reform advocacy, with the newly elected Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and the European Commission.

This webinar aims to provide insights into the 2024 European Parliament elections based on the findings of civil society organisations and initiate the discussion on the way forward regarding future European electoral reforms and strengthening democratic processes at the EU level.

A diverse panel of guests from the European Parliament, the European Commission, electoral bodies and democracy experts will comment and discuss the findings and the recommendations, followed by an exchange with participants.

 Specific Focus Areas:

• Key findings and Electoral Integrity: Discuss the conduct of election administrations, measures for cyber security, and resilience against interference and disinformation in the June 2024 European elections.
• Best Practices and Electoral Inclusion: Highlight good practices in EU Member States to strengthen participation of mobile EU citizens, persons with disabilities, youth, women, national minorities, and other at-risk groups.
• Implementation of European Legislation, Recommendations and Electoral Reforms: Analyse the implementation of European electoral reforms and new legislation, including the Digital Services Act (DSA) and regulations on political party and campaign finance in the June 2024 European elections.

Objectives:

• Establishing a comprehensive post-electoral assessment and synthesis of the lessons learned from the 2024 European elections
• Identifying good practices and gaps among EU Member States in the area of electoral conduct, inclusion, accountability, transparency, equality, and resilience.
• Highlighting recommendations for Election Management Bodies and EU institutions to enhance electoral integrity in line with international standards and regional commitments
• Contributing to a coherent European electoral framework through increased awareness and participation in the European elections
• Strengthening a transnational European network of citizens active on elections and democracy support to further advocate for participatory electoral reforms at EU and Member State level
• Discussing the prospect and envisaged roadmap of possible future European electoral reforms

Agenda:

16:00   Welcome and Opening Remarks

• Introduction to the webinar’s objectives and importance
• Scene setting and background: Overview of the 2024 European Parliament elections and their significance

16:10   What did we observe in the European Parliament elections

• Election-Watch.EU: Election Assessment Mission findings, good practices, and recommendations
• Democracy Reporting International: Findings from Social Media Monitoring Project
• European Platform for Democratic Elections: Perspective from Poland

 16:50   Panel discussion: 

• Policy maker (past or current MEP AFCO)
• Election Administrators and/or European Commission (DG JUST)
• Civil Society leader / Academic

17:10   Q&A with the audience

 17:30   Closing

 Outcomes:

• A shared understanding of lessons learned from the 2024 EP elections
• Initial discussion on the way forward
• Strengthened networks and collaborative relationships among participants

Follow-Up:

• Distribution of Election-Watch.EU Election Assessment Mission report through email list

The Supporting Engagement in European Elections and Democratic Societies (SEEEDS) project is co-financed by the European Union under the CERV Programme. The project is jointly implemented by the organisations listed below.

2024 EP elections, citizen led election observation, data protection in elections, election reform advocacy, election security, EP elections 2024, equality, follow up to recommendations, inclusion in elections, transparency, transparency of political campaign