Ladies
and Gentlemen!
On
behalf of the Association of the Central and
Eastern European Election Officials I would
like to welcome you in our conference. Welcome
to Siófok, to Hungary!
I
have the honour to welcome His Excellency
András Holló, President of the Constitutional
Court of Hungary and His Excellency Lord Russel
Johnston, the former President of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe.
Let
me welcome the election experts of Europe,
Asia, Africa, the Americas and Australia!
Let
me welcome our sponsors and guests!
After
Canada and Mexico, Hungary has the chance
to host the third Conference of Global Election
Organizations. I have the honor to welcome
the representatives of the international and
inter-governmental organizations and the election
experts of the European Union.
The
Association of the Central and Eastern European
Election Officials celebrates the 15th anniversary
of its establishment next year; let me welcome
the representatives of the member states.
And
last but not least, let me welcome Mr Árpád
Balázs, Mayor of Siófok!
All
participants of the conference have already
received the programme, which clearly reflects
those electoral and professional issues, which
are interesting to the election bodies of
the world or the international organizations.
The
institutional system of the democracy faces
new challenges in the world. More and more
countries realize the significance of setting
the exercise of power on democratic basis.
One of the basic pillars of democracy is elections.
However, holding elections by itself does
not make a state democratic. Giving new answers
to the new challenges – this is one of the
tasks of our conference. International organizations
and regional non-governmental organizations
have significant role in this process.
There
are election abuses even in democratic countries.
In the transitional countries the danger is
larger. Courts have an important role in the
prevention of election abuses. The main topic
of the conference is collecting and evaluating
experiences to strengthen constitutionality
in every country.
Voter
turnout and influencing first time voters
to take part in exercising their democratic
rights have become an important issue. The
technical developments of the world cannot
be stopped and this has a great impact to
the traditionally conservative technical methods
of elections. To our great pleasure, the Council
of Europe was concerned with the question
of electronic voting on its merits, and in
several countries of the world there are experiences
of its practical applications. We are going
to consider the above mentioned facts during
the conference.
Basic
principles of elections are incorporated in
international conventions and the constitutions
and laws of states. The general and equal
suffrage, the direct and secret voting are
such values of mankind, that give direction
to all politicians, all civil servants and
all voters towards democracy. Elections are
necessary to supervise the authorities and
to guarantee the activities of parliaments
and governments so that they serve the interests
of mankind, societies and people.
The
Executive Board of the ACEEEO proposes to
hold the Global Elections Day on the first
Thursday of February each year. We propose
to initiate an annual celebration with conferences
and workshops on this day in every democratic
country with the participation of governmental
and non-governmental organizations.
The
main aims of this day would be:
•
Confirming our belief in the irreversibility
of democratic processes;
• Informing the public of new achievements
and challenges related to various types of
voting systems;
• Calling the attention of parliaments, governments,
politicians and world leaders to the important
leadership role that play in promoting a culture
of democracy and high levels of voter participation;
• Influencing first time voters and young
voters to commit themselves to democratic
values.
Let
it be our joint initiative to invite the United
Nations Organization to declare the first
Thursday of February a Global Elections Day.
I
would propose to return to this question at
the closing of the GEO conference on Saturday.
Written materials can be found in your conference
bag.
By filling out and signing the ballot, please
support Global Elections Day!
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
I wish you all a fruitful conference. Enjoy
yourselves in Hungary!
