election-watch.eu

Brussels, Vienna, 30 September 2024: Today, Election-Watch.EU published its Final Report with key findings, good practices and recommendations of the Election Assessment Mission (EAM) to the 2024 European Parliament Elections. From the beginning of May to mid-June, the Mission assessed the European elections across the 27 EU Member States based on six key principles: integrity, inclusion, accountability, transparency, equality, and resilience.

Reference report for European electoral reforms and advocacy

The 21 recommendations of this EAM report focus on advancing electoral reforms within the EU. Key proposals include intensifying collaboration between European institutions and Member States, addressing inconsistencies in national electoral regulations, and harmonising voting eligibility criteria. The main recommendations emphasise the need to increase accessibility for persons with disabilities, enhance women’s participation, and promote the inclusion of national minorities, youth, and mobile EU citizens.

Additional efforts are necessary to harmonise voter and candidate registration, enhance the European character of campaigns, and improve campaign finance transparency and oversight. Robust mechanism to strengthen media freedom and the implement the new social media regulations is essential to handle electoral complaints, ensure independent election observation, and publish detailed election results; thus promoting transparency and public trust.

When the Final Report was released, the Chairperson, Dr Armin Rabitsch, said “our aim is to raise awareness on the importance of the European elections among citizens and to contribute to coherence between the Member States, by highlighting good electoral practices and providing recommendations for further improvement”.

Since 2019, Election-Watch.EU advocates for stronger European electoral integrity and the reinforcement of democratic electoral processes. Non-partisan international and citizen-led election observation missions are essential for strengthening democratic principles and upholding international human rights standards in electoral practices.

Election-Watch.EU is an independent and impartial civil society organisation with a network of international election experts and observers. All missions and reports follow good practice in observation methodology. The organisation endorsed the Declaration of Global Principles for International Election Observation and is also a member of the Global Network of Domestic Election Monitors and of the European Partnership for Democracy.

Election-Watch.EU EAM EP Elections 2024 Final Report 300924

Contacts: For more information please write to office@election-watch.eu.

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