election-watch.eu

Brussels/Vienna, 6 May 2024: Election-Watch.EU was invited to contribute to the Webinar “Enhancing Human Rights in Cities with the Right to Vote: The 2024 European Parliament Elections” by the Human Rights Cities Network (HRCN) in collaboration with the Global Parliament of Mayors.

Michael Lidauer of Election-Watch.EU shed light on elections as a human rights practice and raised awareness of different types of elections as well as different electoral stakeholder groups whose participation may be crucial to facilitate successful and inclusive electoral processes. Other contributions came from the honorable Mayor of Braga/Portugal, Ricardo Rio (key note), Dr. Kibreab Habtemichael Gebereselassie (city of Sindelfingen), Benjamin Goodwin (European Civic Forum, ECF), Margarita Spasova (HRCN), and Frédérique Hanotier as a host.

The webinar contributed to raise awareness of the essential role which municipalities can play as human rights defenders to safeguard and promote democracy, not only in the context of the crucial forthcoming 2024 European elections, but throughout different electoral cycles and at various levels. Local authorities are a fundamental link to open an efficient communication channel to rebuild trust between citizens and decision makers, on one hand to bring Europe to the cities and on the other hand to bring a diversity of voices heard from the cities to the European arena. HRCN will circulate a policy paper on the topic of the webinar.

The webinar took place as part of the Barcelona Programme, with Barcelona acting as the first European Capital of Democracy.

2024 EP elections, citizen led election observation, EP elections 2024, inclusion in elections, transparency, transparency of political campaign