Vienna, 19 December 2022: Eleven Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) covering transparency, press freedom as well as civic and human rights met with Vice-Chancellor Werner Kogler and Minister for the EU and Constitution, Karoline Edtstadler, in the Federal Chancellery of the Republic to discuss a draft law on information freedom, which is now pending since two years. Government representatives listened to the CSOs’ criticism on the draft and promised [...]
access to information, accountability, freedom of information, law on information freedom, transparency
Vienna, 12 August 2022: In 2022 there will be another federal presidential election in Austria and tens of thousands of election officers will once again be needed to ensure that the elections run smoothly. The Austrian presidential election in 2016 and the problems that arose in connection with the conduct of the election drew attention to the issue of polling station commissions (poll workers) and raised the question of a possible need for reform. [...]
Vienna, 17 May 2022: In recent years, election administration has become a subject of intensified debates, raising questions of how to organize elections to ensure electoral integrity. One question concerns who should serve as members of polling station boards, administer election day proceedings, and participate in the vote count. Different models co-exist in modern democracies, with some countries – among them Austria – actively involving the [...]
election integrity, election oversight, electoral studies, poll worker study, poll workers, polling staff, polling staff survey
Vienna, 4 May 2022: As part of the action days for political education, Election-Watch.EU organized a discussion meeting on civil society participation in elections, hosted by Zentrum Polis. Opportunities of providing access to polling [...]
first time voters, inclusion, participatory electoral conduct, political education, polling commission, young voters
Vienna, 20 April 2022: wahlbeobachtung.org is once again initiating a panel discussion with representatives of all parties represented in Parliament to discuss possible electoral reforms. This event, co-organised with the Parliament Directorate, follows the successful electoral reform panel discussion event at Parliament in September 2018.
The poll workers nominated by the campaigning parties are a central part of election administration in Austria. Due to the popularity [...]
Austria,European Union,General,International
Brussels, 20 April 2022: Election-Watch.EU conducted a comparative study about persons with disabilities’ suffrage and accessibility rights within the 27 EU Member States for the 6th Human Rights Report of the European Disability Forum (EDF). The results of the study will be published, presented and discussed in a Webinar on Monday, 16 May 2022. Those interested can register here for the zoom webinar.
The European Parliament elections take place every five years [...]
accessibility of elections, inclusion, people with disability, persons with disabilities, pwd, suffrage rights, voting rights
Vienna, 20 April 2022: As part of the action days for citizenship education, wahlbeobachtung.org and Zentrum polis organise an event to discuss the reform of the polling station committees with representatives of the Vienna provincial electoral authority, the Association of Cities and the teaching profession.
Date: Wednesday 4 May 2022, 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m
Venue: BMBWF Fencing Hall, Freyung 5, 1010 Vienna
polling station members, polling station staff analysis, polling station staff comparison, reform of election committee
Vienna, 31 March 2022: Election-Watch.EU was asked to contribute an article on the subject of “Election Observation in Austria” to the new issue of polis aktuell on elections / voting, a magazine for teachers. With the support of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research, the Austrian Centre for Citizenship Education in Schools offers teaching materials to support [...]
first time voter education, political education, voter education
Austria,European Union,International
Vienna, 2 November 2021: OSCE/ODIHR invited to an election seminar to present its latest publication “Guidelines for Observation of Election Campaigns on Social Networks”. Armin Rabitsch from Election-Watch.EU presented at this event the main challenges of election campaigns on social networks, gave an overview of upcoming regulations of social networks, and provided key recommendations in safeguarding election campaigns online.
social media and elections, social media monitoring, social networks