European Union,General,International
How best to assess hybrid threats in elections?
Brussels, 11-12 December 2024: Elections globally are facing increasing challenges to their integrity, driven by disinformation, cyberattacks, foreign covert operations, and other hybrid threats. This necessitates a rethinking of approaches by both election organisers and election observers to better understand these risks and adapt processes accordingly. For citizen and international observers, this raises questions about whether current methodologies [...]
2024 EP elections, accountability, citizen led election observation, data protection in elections, election security, EP elections 2024, hybrid threats, inclusion in elections, transparency of political campaign
Austria,European Union,General,International
Venice Commission recognises election observers as human rights defenders
Venice, 6-7 December 2024: The Venice Commission (VC; European Commission for Democracy through Law; Council of Europe) acknowledged Election Observers as Human Rights Defenders. Venice Commission Report Election Observers as HR Defenders
The Venice Commission points out in particular that:
➡️ States should adopt the necessary provisions in national legislation to provide sufficient possibilities to observe elections;
➡️ All states should foresee in [...]
accountability, citizen led election observation, equality, inclusion in elections, transparency, transparency of political campaign
International election observer organisations convene in Gdansk
Gdansk, 20-22 November 2024: Election-Watch.EU participated for the first time as an endorsing member at the annual implementation meeting of the Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation in Gdansk/Poland. Hosted by OSCE / ODIHR, and opened by former Polish President and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Lech Wałęsa, the event took place in [...]
2024 EP elections, accountability, data protection in elections, Declaration of Principles, DoP, election security, endorsing DoP member, EP elections 2024, equality, inclusion in elections, transparency, transparency of political campaign
Austria,European Union,General,International
Election Assessment Mission Report with good practice examples published
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 [...]
2024 EP elections, accountability, citizen led election observation, data protection in elections, election security, EP elections 2024, equality, featured-en, inclusion in elections, transparency, transparency of political campaign
Webinar on European elections’ good practices and lessons learned
Brussels, Vienna, 24 September 2024: The final Supporting Engagement in European Elections and Democratic Societies (SEEEDS) project webinar focused on the 2024 European Parliament elections.
Panelists included Marie-Hélène Boulanger of the [...]
2024 EP elections, accountability, citizen led election observation, election security, EP elections 2024, equality, inclusion in elections, transparency, transparency of political campaign
Vote Advice Application for the Austrian general elections online
Vienna, 16 September 2024: Since Monday, 16 September 2024, the vote advice application wahlrechner.at for the 2024 Austrian National Council election is online. The wahlrechner.at was first tested during the European elections as a pilot project, where the app recorded 550,000 users.
The project, initiated by several democracy-focused NGOs, is supported both technically and content-wise by the association KohoVolit.eu, which [...]
accountability, Austrian elections, citizen led election observation, election security, inclusion in elections, transparency, transparency of political campaign, vote advice appliation, wahlrechner.at
European Union,General,International
The EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act and its impact on electoral processes
Vienna, 9 July 2024: The purpose of the EU AI Act is among others to “ensuring a high level of protection of health, safety, fundamental rights enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights, including democracy, the rule of law and environmental protection, against the harmful effects of the AI systems in the Union”. Adopted by the Council of the EU on 21 May 2024, the AI Act is expected to be published in the EU Official Journal during the second half of July 2024.
Armin [...]
2024 EP elections, accountability, AI Act, AI and elections, AI impact on electoral processes, AI impact on freedom of expression, challenges to elections by AI, citizen led election observation, data protection in elections, EP elections 2024
Presentation of EAM preliminary findings at international public law conference ICON-S
Brussels/Madrid, 8 July 2024: Election-Watch.EU was invited to present preliminary findings of its Election Assessment Mission (EAM) to the 2024 European Elections at a panel of the International Society of Public Law (ICON-S) Annual Conference on “The Future of Public Law: Resilience, Sustainability, and Artificial Intelligence” which took place at the IE University Law School in Madrid, Spain, July 8-10, 2024.
The panel “The 2024 European elections: state of [...]
2024 EP elections, accountability, citizen led election observation, EP elections 2024, inclusion in elections, transparency of political campaign
Post-Election Presentation to the Election Management Bodies of EU Member States
Brussels, 5 July 2024: The European Commission Directorate General Justice (EC DG JUST) invited Election-Watch.EU to meet the European Cooperation Network on Elections (ECNE) following the 6-9 June European Parliament elections. The presentation of Election-Watch.EU’s preliminary findings and conclusions followed a Q&A with the representatives of Election Management Bodies and authorities of EU Member States.
Election-Watch.EU provided an overview of the [...]
2024 EP elections, accountability, citizen led election observation, data protection in elections, election security, EP elections 2024, equality, inclusion in elections, transparency, transparency of political campaign