In 2020 Romania took over the Presidency of the Association and hosts the 30th Anniversary Conference. With the active participation of electoral officials, academia and other electoral stakeholders, in this year we intend to discuss the topics of ‘Youth Participation' and 'Campaign and Party Finance'.
First, ACEEEO celebrates by looking forward to the future of democracy and elections – to the youth. Today’s first voters will shape tomorrow’s democracy, it is therefore paramount to understand how the youth think, what attitudes they have, and how their meaningful engagement might be increased. ACEEEO has been devoted to this topic in the past and dedicates its activities in 2021 mostly to this theme.
Second, the Conference deals with the topic of campaign- and party finance. In the modern political contest money and politics cannot be disentangled. The question how political actors receive funds, how they spend it, and how they need to report it is of utmost importance in any democracy. The Conference focuses on the question of how money is spent during electoral campaigns, either from dedicated campaign fund or from the general resources available to parties.
In 2019 Georgia took over the Presidency of the Association and hosts the 29th Annual Conference. With the active participation of electoral officials, academia and other electoral stakeholders, in this year we intend to discuss the topic of ‘Elections and Communications - The role of Electoral Management Bodies in conducting and facilitating effective communication’. The 2020 annual conference is structured to embrace both the external and internal aspects the theme Communications, as well as different aims, including education, providing of information, etc. Besides the theoretical framework the practical-institutional aspect would be discussed with a special attention paid to the challenges and opportunities posed by internet and social media.
In 2019 Slovenia took over the Presidency of the Association and hosts the 28th Annual Conference. With the active participation of 150 electoral experts this year we intend to discuss the topic of ‘Judicial protection of electoral rights and the transparency of elections’. In the frame of the theoretical aspects we will focus on questions of the judicial protection of electoral rights and transparency. During the conference we would like to focus on the ways the dialogue and cooperation between the EMBs and Courts can be effective; active and passive aspects of the protection of the right to vote; the communication of EMBs with citizens through mass- and social media; and the transparency as a goal that can be reached by providing the sufficient protection of individual rights.
The ACEEEO and the Central Election Commission of Lithuania coorganizes the 27th Annual Conference and General Assembly meeting of the ACEEEO, which will be held on 5-7 September 2018, in Vilnius, Lithuania.
In 2017 Bulgaria, our founder-member took over the Presidency of the Association and hosts the 26th Annual Conference. With the active participation of over 100 electoral experts this year we intend to discuss the topic of ‘The Conscious Voters in the digital age’. In the frame of the theoretical aspects we will focus on questions of the access to the public information; the freedom of expression; the free electoral campaign. During the conference we would like to deal with several practical aspects, like the new ways of voter information; special needs of youth voters; the role of the EMBs in the flow of the information.
