1. Global Elections Day
6 February 2019
Next week on the 6 February the ACEEEO community and its partners celebrate the Global Elections Day (GED).
On the occasion of this celebration the Electoral Management Bodies open the doors of their offices, emphasizing once again the transparency in their work. They invite young voters, the media and other key stakeholders to present them achievements in organization of the electoral process, but at the same time they initiate conversation about the improvement of the processes. As the initiators of the GED underlined back in 2005, the main goals of this day are:
- to confirm our belief in the irreversibility of democratic processes;
- to inform the public about new achievements and challenges related to various types of voting systems;
- to draw the attention of parliaments, governments, politicians and world leaders on the importance of their leadership role that they play in promoting a culture of democracy and high levels of voter participation;
- to influence first-time voters and young voters to commit themselves to democratic values.
We encourage all our Members and Partners to join the celebration and send us your short reports and photos about the activities (For further reference please visit: https://aceeeo.org/en/projects/global-elections-day).
Global Elections Day in Hungary
Nearly thirty years ago, in the spring of 1990, the first free Hungarian elections were held following the change of regime. This institution, even though it was nominally present before, introduced a whole new set of opportunities and challenges for the society, including the voters, politicians, and professionals involved in organizing elections.
The ACEEEO has been established in 1991 in order to assist the new democracies of the Central and Eastern European region in the development of their practices for free and fair elections. Since then, with the participation of 25 Member States, ACEEEO has regularly organized conferences and seminars, where electoral experts and representatives of international organizations are given the opportunity to have an active exchange of views.
Thus, on the occasion of the GED the ACEEEO Secretariat organizes a ‘Roundtable discussion on the thirty years of the Hungarian democratic elections' to strengthen dialogue between election practitioners, scholars and election analysts.
The main aim of the roundtable is to give participants an overview of the beginning of the electoral transition, to review changes over the past thirty years, and to share thoughts on the future of the elections.
The event will be in Hungarian and open to the public, but is subject to pre-registration. For further details please contact the Secretariat of the Association.
ACEEEO President to attend the launch of the new Electoral Psychology Observatory at the LSE
The new Electoral Psychology Observatory at the LSE will formally launch on Thursday 6 February to coincide with Global Elections Day. The new Observatory is directed by Prof. Michael Bruter and Dr. Sarah Harrison and dedicated to understanding the psychology of voters and helping Election Management Bodies optimize experience of voters (both in general and in the case of specific categories such as first time voters, the elderly, or voters facing specific mental health issues such as autism).
The full-day event is focused on the needs of Electoral Commissions many of whom will attend the event including from ACEEEO, the President of the Association Ms. Tamar Zhvania, the Chairpersons of the Electoral Commissions of Lithuania and Ukraine, leading representatives of the Electoral Commissions of Bulgaria and Romania, as well as Chairpersons or high ranking officials from many other Electoral Commissions from the UK and Sweden to South Africa.
It includes an exceptional Workshop on a new project “designing the ideal polling station” in the presence of leading architects, designers, museum exhibition specialists, representatives of citizens with mental disabilities, a Roundtable in the House of Commons on the experience of First Time voters co-organized with a Parliament’s All Party Parliamentary Group, and the Launch of a new free Almanac of Electoral Ergonomics and new book “Inside the Mind of a Voter” (Princeton University Press), and a festive reception.
All events are free to attend for Electoral Commissions and conceived as highly interactive, but only upon invitation which can be requested from the organizers at epob@lse.ac.uk. All events are taking place in London (London School of Economics and Houses of Parliament) with the main launch event starting at 13.00 and the Parliamentary Roundtable at 16.15. Further information can be requested from www.epob.org.
2. Upcoming events in the ACEEEO region
29th ACEEEO Annual Conference
9-11 September 2020, Tbilisi, Georgia
The 29th ACEEEO Annual Conference will be held between 9-11 September, in Tbilisi, Georgia.
The proposed topic of the conference is ‘Communications’, which will be discussed in terms of the role of EMBs and commitments of the key electoral actors.
The Secretariat will share further details about the conference very soon.
Elections in the region
|
9 February |
Azerbaijan |
Early Parliamentary |
|
29 February |
Slovakia |
Parliamentary |
|
April 2020 |
Serbia |
Parliamentary |
|
May 2020 |
Poland |
Presidential |
|
August 2020 |
Belarus |
Presidential |
|
4 October |
Kyrgyzstan |
Parliamentary |
|
11 and 25 October |
Lithuania |
Parliamentary |
|
October 2020 |
Georgia |
Parliamentary |
|
October 2020 |
Montenegro |
Parliamentary |
|
2020 |
Ukraine |
Local |
|
2020 |
North Macedonia |
Parliamentary |
|
2020 |
Moldova |
Presidential |
|
December 2020 |
Croatia |
Parliamentary |
|
December 2020 |
Romania |
Parliamentary |