1. 29th Annual Conference and General Assembly meeting of the ACEEEO
8-10 September 2020, Tbilisi, Georgia - online conference
There is less than a week until the 29th ACEEEO Annual Conference organized by the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Georgia and the ACEEEO Secretariat, which will be held online on 9-10 September 2020. The topic to be discussed this year is the ‘Elections and Communications - The role of Electoral Management Bodies in conducting and facilitating effective communication’.
The Conference Agenda offers exciting contributions to the topics of 'Elections and Communications', 'Disinformation during elections' and 'Elections During the Pandemic'. Our speakers represent the accumulated institutional knowledge of such institutions like Election Commissions of Georgia, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Republic of Moldova, North Macedonia and Romania, international organizations like IFES, International IDEA, Nacional Electoral Institute (INE) of Mexico, the Delian Project, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Venice Commission, Electoral Assistance Division of the United Nations, and ACEEEO, as well as academia. Altogether we have confirmed participants from more than 30 countries. Please find a more detailed information on the topics and biographies of our speakers on the dedicated page.
There is still a possibility to join the Conference: the registration is open until 7 September. We encourage all the interested to use the remaining time to get familiar with the materials of the conference and register as soon as possible.
2. Recent events in the ACEEEO
Online Symposiums on Elections in Times of Epidemic
The first Online Symposium took place 5 May. The circa 80 attendees representing International Organizations, Electoral Management Bodies, Non-Governmental Organizations and Universities from across the globe have had the chance to get acquainted with the challenges and solutions of holding elections under the threat of COVID-19 pandemic. This Symposium, therefore, focused on Poland, where the Presidential Election was supposed to be held on 10 May, and where there was a rather ambiguous situation as to the legal background and basis of the upcoming elections. The Symposium also dealt with the case of South Korea, where elections were held on 15 April amidst the epidemic; the participants could gather first-hand experiences from those organizing and analyzing the elections, showing the possible good practices and the limits of the applicability of these. The summary of the Symposium is available here.
ACEEEO held an online symposium on elections for the second time 4 June 2020. The focus, again, was on the effects of the COVID-19 virus on elections. The topic was discussed by the active participation of more than 50 practitioners and scholars from all over the world. The virtual meeting focused on five case studies, Croatia, Poland, Serbia, Ukraine, and the U.S., and discussed the legal and practical approach to holding or postponing elections under the threat of COVID-19 pandemic. The summary of the key arguments is available here.
The last Symposium provided a follow-up on the Polish elections taking place on 28 June, where elections were held successfully, despite the hard situation. Furthermore, a presentation demonstrated the best practices of communications at times of epidemic, showing from a general angle how EMBs may participate in the communicative sphere effectively. Finally, participants discussed the Latin-American approach to elections and democracy in the epidemic, and the U.S. situation. Summary of the Symposium is available here.
3. Elections in the ACEEEO region
Date |
Country |
Type of election |
4 October |
Kyrgyzstan |
Parliamentary |
4 October |
Bosnia and Herzegovina |
Local |
11 and 25 October |
Lithuania |
Parliamentary |
25 October |
Ukraine |
Local |
31 October |
Georgia |
Parliamentary |
1 November |
R. Moldova |
Presidential |
December 2020 |
Romania |
Parliamentary |