It has been the 19th time so far that the Annual Conference of the Association of European Election Officials (ACEEEO) was organized. In 2010 participants of the professional yearly gathering focused on discussing different aspects and issues of voters’ registration.
On the 19th Annual Conference representatives of 17 ACEEEO member countries were present. Including them, participants came from 32 countries from all over the world. Together with our Georgian hosts, more than 170 participants were glad to meet and share their experiences with each other. Representatives of different international organizations like IFES (International Foundation for Electoral Systems), UNDEF (United Nations Democracy Fund), representatives from OSCE/ODIHR, from the European Commission, International IDEA, UNDP, USAID and at least but not last representative of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe were among our guests.
Participants and organizers of the conference were honored with special and high-ranking lecturers and guests, namely for example Mr. Davit Bakradze, Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia, and Dr. Zoltán Toth, Secretary General of the ACEEEO, who officially opened the 19th ACEEEO conference (please click here to view the welcoming presentation).
Mr. William Hybl, Vice-Chairman of the IFES Board of Directors, and Mr. Bill Sweeney, President/CEO of IFES, representing the UNDEF as well, greeted conference guests and participants during the official opening session.
On the first Conference day (9th September 2010) Mr. Gyula Rádi, Project Director and Mr. István Zsuffa, Program Director, authors of the draft copy of the Handbook on Voters’ Registration presented the ‘Developing accurate voter lists in transitional democracies’ projects’ different steps and milestones during the last one and a half year. The draft Handbook was previously sent for all conference participants and it was the basement of the discussion. ACEEEO program directors accept further comments on the draft Handbook in a written format due to the 30th September. You can download the draft Handbook by clicking here. Representatives of international organizations shared their experiences with the auditorium right after the country case studies’ sections. Presentations are available on our website below.
On the second Conference day (10th September 2010) during the morning sessions two different workshops investigated the different angles and backgrounds of voter registration challenges: Workshop A dealt with ‘Legal and Procedural Issues’ while Workshop B explored different ‘Technical Solutions’ and IT background of voters’ registration processes. During the afternoon session workshop moderators, Ms. Eszter Bodnár, Legal Expert of the ACEEEO, Hungary and Mr. Zoltán Kovács, IDOM 2000, Hungary, summarized that was discussed during the workshop sessions. After the summary sessions we had a short overview of projects related to voter registrations such as for example E-democracy, combating vote frauds, etc. The second day’s closing session wrapped up the previous days’ discussions on different aspects of voters’ registration and related topics. The final outcome of the ‘Developing Accurate Voter Lists in Transitional Democracies’ project, namely the final version Handbook on best practices will be presented to the public in December 2010.
Then, the General Assembly of the ACEEEO accepted the membership request of two new applicants for associate institutional membership (without vote): therefore the Association of Afghan Election Officials (AAEO) along with the Independent Research Center “ELS” from Azerbaijan are associate members of the Association of European Officials beginning from the 11th September 2010.
A new honorary member was accepted as well by the Assembly: Mrs. Livia Skultetyova, Director of the Election Department of the Ministry of Interior of Slovakia is the newest honorary member of the ACEEEO. Participants of the General Assembly meeting could see the power point presentation of Mrs. Emilia Rytko, new president of the ACEEEO and of the Executive Board who presented the venues and topics of the 20th Jubilee Anniversary ACEEEO conference to be held in Budapest, Hungary from 15-18 June 2011. Presentations are available on our website below.
The next meeting of the Executive Board meeting will take place in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in the beginning of March 2011.
The excellent hospitality of the Central Election Commission of Georgia has to be mentioned also as much as the lovely cultural programs they have organized for the participants. Thank You, for being the partners of the ACEEEO Secretariat in the organizational process of the 19th ACEEEO conference. And thank for all participants, who have come to Tbilisi to participate in the discussions of such important topics. And we hope to meet all of you next year in Budapest, Hungary, to celebrate together our 20th jubilee anniversary in the city where the Association was created back in 1991. For more details on the 20th jubilee conference, please contact the Secretariat at aceeeo@aceeeo.org .
