Organization

The General Assembly is the supreme organ of the Association and is composed of all its members. The General Assembly considers proposals or questions of common interest submitted by its members, the Executive Board or the Secretariat. It also adopts the policy, and approves the program of work of the Association and the main items of the agenda of its forthcoming meetings. The General Assembly performs its duties in accordance with the provisions of the Charter and its own rules of procedure.

Members of the Association

The Executive Board is made up of seven representatives of Institutional Members from seven different States, elected by secret voting at meetings of the Association, for a period of 3 years. Representatives of those two member-countries which are not members of the Executive Board (generally, if the given election management body does not decide it otherwise, this representative might be the president of the given election management body), but are ready to organize a conference and/or a meeting of the General Assembly,  become the members of the Executive Board for that year, as provided by a resolution of the General Assembly.

Board members elect a President from amongst themselves by an open vote. His mandate lasts for one year, and he is usually the representative of that country’s election management body that organizes the following annual conference of ACEEEO. In case a member of the Executive Board does not hold a position at a national election institute any more, his or her membership is terminated in the Executive Board.

The Secretary General of the Association participates in all activities of the Board as a non-voting member. Board members usually meet twice a year to discuss project activities and conduct other business. At the discretion of the Board, other experts or Association members are often invited to these important meetings.

The Secretariat, located in Budapest, Hungary is the permanent organ of the Association. The Secretariat carries out the duties entrusted to it by the General Assembly and the Executive Board. It responds to the needs of the Association's membership by organizing conferences, outreach efforts and other activities. Centrally located, the Secretariat is led by the ACEEEO Secretary General Mr. Zsolt Szolnoki.

Mr. Zsolt SZOLNOKI, Secretary General

Zsolt Szolnoki was elected by the General Assembly of the ACEEEO to serve as the Secretary General of the ACEEEO on the General Assembly meeting during the 20th anniversary conference of the ACEEEO. Previously he worked for the Association as the Driector of Operations. Please find the Curriculum Vitae of Mr. Szolnoki here.

SECRETARIAT STAFF

 

István ÁHI,  Program Manager

István Áhi is responsible for program coordination and organization of processes in the Association. He is also responsible for managing the finances, takes care for the logistics of the Association's events, and deals with the publications of the ACEEEO. He holds MA in International Relations and MA in Russian Language and Literature.

 

János MÉCS, Project Manager

János Mécs is project manager at ACEEEO since 2017. He has graduated from law and political science at Eötvös Loárnd University (ELTE), Budapest, and received an LLM degree in comparative constitutional law at Central European University, Budapest. Currently he is a PhD student at ELTE. His field of expertise is electoral law and participatory rights. He has publications in this field both in English and in Hungarian. As a practitioner, he is a legal adviser of political parties in electoral matters.

 

To accomplish all the tasks voluntary experts help our work: 

 

Dr. Márta DEZSŐ, Head of the Documentation and Scientific Centre

She liaises with the documentation centre of IFES, with Hungarian and foreign scientific institutions She also supervises targeted researches and scientific projects. Marta also prepares professional discussion papers for the annual conferences.

 

We would like to express our greatest acknowledgements to Dr. Zoltán TÓTH, Former Secretary General (1991-2011) and Dr. István ZSUFFA, Former Program Director of the ACEEEO († 2020).

Also, we are highly greatful for the accomplishments of the previous members of the Secretariat staff: Ms. Orsolya NAGY, Mr. Máté RADICS, Ms. Kinga DOLINA, Ms. Anna SÓLYOM and Dr. Eszter BODNÁR.

 

Here we would like to express our greatest acknowledgements to the previous presidents of the Association:

1994 - 1995: Mr. Ivan Yemetz, Chairman, Central Election Commission of Ukraine;

1995 - 1996: Ms. Marta Vidakovic Mukic, Croatia;

1997 - 1998: Mr. Alexander V. Ivanchenko, Chairman, Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation;

1998 - 1999: Mr. Zenonas Vaigauskas, Chairman, Central Election Commission of Lithuania;

1999 - 2000: Ms. Lívia Skultétyiová, Department of Elections and Referendum, Ministry of the Interior of Slovakia;

2000 - 2001: † Mr. Kazimierz W. Czaplicki, Secretary, National Electoral Office of Poland;

2001 - 2002: Mr. Marian Ramuscak; President, State Election Commission of Croatia;

2002 - 2004: Mr. Alexander V. Veshnyakov, Chairman, Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation;

2004 - 2005: Mr. Ilirjan Celibashi, Chairman, Central Election Commission of Albania;

2005 - 2007: † Mr. Arnis Cimdars, Chairman, Central Election Commission of Latvia;

2007 - 2008: Mr. Octavian Opris, President, Permanent Electoral Authority of Romania;

2008 - 2009: † Mr. Garegin Azaryan, President, Central Election Commission of Armenia;

September 2009 - June 2010: Mr. Eugeniu Stirbu, President, Central Election Commission of the Republic of Moldova;

June 2010 - Sepetember 2010: Mr. Zurab Kharatishvili, Chairman, Central Election Commission of Georgia;

2010 - 2011: Ms. Emília Rytkó, former Head of National Electoral Office of Hungary;

2011 - 2012: Ms. Irena Hadziabdic, Member of Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina;

2012 - 2013: † Mr. Kazimierz W. Czaplicki, Secretary, National Electoral Office of Poland;

2013 - 2014: Ms. Ana Maria Pătru, Chairperson, Permanent Electoral Authority of Romania;

2014 - 2015: Dr. Iurie Ciocan, Chairman, Central Election Commission of Moldova;

2015 - 2016: Ms. Lefterie Luzi (Lleshi), Chairperson, Central Election Commission of Albania;

2016 - 2017: Ms. Ivilina Aleksieva-Robinson, Chairperson, Central Electoral Commission of Bulgaria;

2017 - 2018: Ms. Laura Matjošaitytė, Chairperson, Central Election Commission of Lithuania;

2019 - 2019: Mr. Dušan Vucko, Director, Office of the State Election Commission of the Republic of Slovenia;

2019 - 2021: Ms. Tamar Zhvania, Chairperson, Central Electoral Commission of Georgia;

2021 - 2022: Mr. Constantin-Florin Mitulețu-Buică, President of the Permanent Electoral Authority of Romania.