The Electoral Integrity Project held the 4th Annual online conference during July 8-12 2024.
Elections are crucial to achieving democratic governance. This year’s virtual workshop focussed on the three major components of electoral integrity: electoral justice, participation and contestation.
The event was covened by Holly Ann Garnett (Royal Military College / Queen's University, Canada), Toby James (University of East Anglia, UK), Anna Unger (Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary).
2024 was widely billed as the ‘year of elections’ with 2 billion people headed to the polls. Half way through the year, we asked an expert panel to examine how elections fared in their countries. What were the concerns ahead of election day? Did they come to pass? If not, why? Was electoral misinformation a problem? If so, how? The opening included experts discussing elections in India, Mexico, South Africa, Hungary and the UK.
The workshop also included a roundtable organised by IFES on EMB interdependence. Many of the impediments to EMB independence are widely known, and new research indicates that EMB autonomy is under increasing attack by governments. How to maintain EMB independence when interdependence with government agencies is required, however, is infrequently discussed and under-researched. The roundtable explored this challenge and ongoing work relevant to this topic by the Global Network for Securing Electoral Integrity (GNSEI), a new platform for election-focused organizations and networks to advance electoral integrity in the face of critical threats to democracy. Following GNSEI consultations with EMBs, election practitioners, international NGOs, citizen observer groups and networks, international donors and IGOs, the Network has drafted guidelines to support election management bodies (EMBs) to assert, protect, and promote their independence as they carry out their mandates in collaboration with other public institutions.
Overall the conference included over 300 participants from around the world, sharing research-based ideas and conversations about how to improve electoral integrity.
All sessions are available to watch on the YouTube Channel