Newsletter

March, 2012

1. Upcoming Events

ACEEEO 21st annual conference
13 – 15 September 2012
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

The 21st annual conference and the General Assembly of the Association of European Election Officials will be hosted by the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 13 till 15 September 2012. Sarajevo for the first time will host the international gathering of professional election community.

On this cross-regional discussion attendees will have the opportunity to discuss the topic of

Participation of Vulnerable Groups in Election Processes:
Minorities and Persons with Disabilities

In keeping with our tradition, in the scope of our annual conference we are offering opportunities for regional and cross-regional consultations, networking as well as for learning on recent developments in election technology. Technical details will be distributed in April.
We look forward to seeing you and to making the 2012 Conference a great success!

Showcase Seminar on External Voting, Decreasing Participation,
Recommendations and Implementation
3-4 May 2012, Vienna, Austria

Under the grant support of IFES and a complementary micro-grant support of UNDP, in 2011 the ACEEEO implemented 2 regional training activities for member country representatives of the ACEEEO. A 5-days introductory workshop focusing on Strategic and Financial planning, and a 10 days Train the Facilitator training. Due to further regional necessities identified by E-Voting CC, ACEEEO Secretariat offers to implement a BRDIGE showcase under the same grant agreement with IFES to create an opportunity for European decision makers to get acquainted with BRDIGE methodology and broaden their capacity development opportunities.

Objectives

• Showcase BRDIGE training methodology in a 2-days seminar
• Bring together election professionals from across Europe to share experiences on capacity development, external voting and decreasing
• Build new professional networks focusing on and fostering an even broader regional capacity development initiative

The 2-days Seminar in Vienna, co-organized by ACEEEO and E-Voting.CC, hosted by OSCE/ODIHR, will perform the showcase dealing with the burning topics of 1) external voting and 2) decreasing participation. Beside these, we are going to discuss and focus on possible practices of implementing OSCE/ODIHR election reports' recommendations in post- and pre-election period from an electoral cycle approach.

For more information please contact Ms. Anna Solyom at asolyom@aceeeo.org.

In case of interest, we encourage you to send your application to the ACEEEO Secretariat as soon as possible. (download application sheet from here)

Executive Board meeting of the ACEEEO
30 March 2012
Belgrade, Serbia

The upcoming meeting of the Executive Board of the Association will take place on the 30th March 2012, in Belgrade, Serbia with the support of the Republic Electoral Commission of the Republic of Serbia.

Election administration fellowship
22-28 March 2012, Budapest, Hungary

A new, collaborative program of election administration fellowships is being organized by the International Electoral Education Council and Creative Associates International, Inc.

Under the Electoral Administration Fellowship Program, the Council and Creative are sponsoring Master and Doctoral students interested in election administration for a week long work/study program at an Election Management Body (EMB). The objective of this program is to provide an introduction to internationally accepted electoral policies and practices for a new generation of students. This correspondence is an inquiry on the interest of your EMB in participating in the program.

2. ACEEEO Events

Celebrating Global Elections' Day – 2nd February 2012

Following the tradition the ACEEEO Secretariat celebrated the Global Election Day for 7th time. For this occasion the Secretariat gave a reception for the Hungarian partners and the representatives of the Embassies of ACEEEO member countries.
The Secretariat received reports on celebration GED in the following countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Latvia, Macedonia, Poland, and Russian Federation.

3. ACEEEO in the region

Secretary General visit ODIHR Director
3 February 2012, Warsaw

Zsolt Szolnoki, ACEEEO Secretary General visited ODIHR Director, Ambassador Lenarčič on 3 February in Warsaw, Poland.
Zsolt Szolnoki proposed to re-new the ODIHR-ACEEEO agreement, which was originally signed in 2002. ODIHR is committed to continue the cooperation with the ACEEEO.
The possible way to follow up of the different observation mission reports was also discussed. Regarding to this issue, Ambassador Lenarčič highlighted the importance the role of the ACEEEO experts.

Second Annual Meeting of the Representatives of Election Management Bodies
9-11 February 2012, Batumi, Georgia

Upon the invitation of the Central Election Commission of Georgia, Mr. Stepan Ahiy represented the ACEEEO Secretariat at the Second Annual Meeting of the Representatives of Election Management Bodies that was conducted in the city of Batumi.
The following ACEEEO member-countries representatives were present on the meeting: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Lithuania, Moldova, Slovenia and Ukraine.
IFES, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR), Centre of Electoral Systems Development, Reforms and Trainings and Commission for Ensuring the Accuracy of Voters' List also participated in the conference.
At the meeting the sides discussed the lessons learnt during the previous elections as well as the elections planned in the nearest future, they examined the ways of elaborating principles for future cooperation.

Observation mission of the Elections of the President of the Russian Federation
4th March 2012, Moscow, Russian Federation

Upon the invitation of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, Ms. Orsolya Nagy observed the E-day on behalf of ACEEEO Secretariat. During the visit she participated on press-conferences of the CEC of Russia, had meetings with Mr. Vladimir E. Churov, Chairman of the CEC and Mr. Stanislav V. Vavilov, Deputy Chairman and visited polling stations in Zvenigorod city. ACEEEO member-countries were also present in the observation program: election commissioners from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Moldova and Ukraine were also invited to get acquainted with the voting process, the technical innovations at the polling stations, the counting and announcement of the results.

4. NEWS

International workshop on Electoral Integrity
7 July 2012 in Madrid

IPSA-ECP (International Political Science Association- Elections, Citizens and Parties) is organizing a one-day workshop in Madrid on 7 July 2012, prior to the IPSA World Congress 8-12 July 2012. The Workshop is co-sponsored by the International IDEA and by the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems. The workshop will focus on issues of 'electoral integrity', understood as a complex and multidimensional concept which reflects internationally-agreed standards for the conduct of these contests. For more information please visit www.IPSA-ECP.com or contact Ms Pippa Norris at IPSA.ECP@groups.facebook.com.

EVOTE2012 - 5th International Conference on Electronic Voting
11-14 July 2012, Bregenz, Austria

EVOTE2012 – the 5th International Conference on Electronic Voting takes place in Castle Hofen, Bregenz, Austria from 11–14th July 2012. The conference is organized by E-Voting.CC in cooperation with the Council of Europe and the Gesellschaft für Informatik.

• It brings together truly international e-voting specialists working in academia, politics, government and industry from all over the world.
• It provides room for an interdisciplinary and open discussion on all issues electronic voting involves.
• It is the place for knowledge and information exchange on electronic voting

The theme of EVOTE2012 is "Challenges for Electronic Voting - Transparency, Trust and Voter Education".
Registration for EVOTE2012 will start at the beginning of April. Make sure to reserve the dates in your calendar to join us at EVOTE2012.
All further information about the conference is available at http://www.e-voting.cc/2012

Elections Calendar till May 2012

Source: http://www.electionguide.org/ (IFES)

5. Secretariat NEWS

Simona Leonaviciute is trainee under "Partners 4 Value" under the leadership of UNDP Lithuania in ACEEEO Secretariat. She is a last year master student of International Law Joint Master Study Program in Mykolas Romeris University, Vilnius. During the internship from 30 January till 30 April, 2012 she is dealing with assisting international projects (ACE project, youth voters, etc.) and data research, assisting the member organizations of the Association, project development and proposal writing, etc.