2006 marked the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Association of Central and Eastern European Election Officials (ACEEEO).
For this reason, that annual conference was of great importance for all of us. Besides the celebration of this outstanding event, we chose two important topics. The two main topics were the following: legal and technical aspects of referendum and the question of e-voting.
At the beginning, election experts from Central and Eastern Europe organized a conference in Budapest, Hungary, in 1991, at the initiative and with the support of the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES). At that time representatives from 6 countries signed the protocol and expressed their will to establish such an organization. This was the birth of our Association. Since then 15 years have passed. As years went by, the ACEEEO has enrolled 22 institutional members from Central and Eastern Europe. The first five years was about strengthening the subsistence of the ACEEEO and to prove its importance and necessity. The second five years was about building relations and recruiting new members from the region. Finally, the last five years were dedicated to searching for international connections, finding partners from all over the world and utilizing fully the advantages of these relations. When the ACEEEO was established our region was on its way towards democracy. On the basis of the last 15 years' experiences we considered that it was time to become an Association of Election Officials without any regional limitation.
In the course of the 15th Jubilee Conference we discussed the following issues:
1. The new strategy of our Association;
2. Amendments to Charter of the ACEEEO;
3. Future publications by the Association;
4. National referendum: technical and legal aspects;
5. Scene of the Annual Conference 2007;
6. Other issues.