Invitation to the Round Table “Electoral Authoritarianism in the OSCE Region - the Example of the Russian Federation“

Round Table “Electoral Authoritarianism in the OSCE Region - the Example of the Russian Federation“

Political science describes electoral authoritarianism as a sort of authoritarian regime where elections are organised but incumbents always win. "Ruling elites in electoral autocracies use repressive acts, fraudulent manipulation, abuse of state resources and restrictions on party competition to deter rival leaders, reduce domestic threats, and deflect international pressure." (P.Norris) The State Duma and the Presidential elections in the Russian Federation served as examples for international scientific analysis of the phenomenon of electoral authoritarianism in the past years. The Russian regime steadily fulfilled the main criteria of electoral authoritarianism - "to hold regular, broadly inclusive elections, but they are subject to severe state manipulation and systematically violate liberal democratic principles of freedom and fairness." (A. Schedler)

The given side event gives room for discussion whether the State Duma elections of September 18th 2016 again confirm this classification or whether a positive development towards more integrity, inclusiveness and transparency of the election process can be noticed. Based on the first preliminary findings of international and domestic citizens' observation international experts and civil society activists will present their assessment of the quality of the past State Duma elections. The discussion will also provide an oversight over different mission reports produced during the State Duma elections thereby trying to classify their assessment according to their methodological approach. 

Friday the 23th of September 18.00-19.45

Place: Meeting Room 2, Sofitel-Victoria Hotel, Krolewska Str. 11, Warsaw

Moderator: TBC

Panellists:

• Nature of the electoral campaign, evaluation of the results and perspectives by Lilia Shibanova, Golos Movement
• Quantitative evaluation of the scale and regional peculiarities of electoral fraud during the Duma elections 2016 by Dmitry Oreshkin, “Narodnyi Izbirkom” project
• Analysis of financing of electoral campaign and its regional peculiarities by Stanislav Andreichuk, Golos Movement
• Opportunities and challenges for civic election observation by Golos movement’s regional network by Roman Udot, Golos Movement
• Fake election monitoring as a challenge for independent civic observation in the OSCE region by Stefanie Schiffer, European Platform for Democratic Elections.

The event is organized by the European Platform for Democratic Elections in cooperation with the Swedish International Liberal Centre (SILC), International Elections Study Center (IESC), movement for defence of voters’ rights “Golos”, and the Polish Forum of Young Diplomats (FMD).

European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE) is a network organization assisting citizens’ election observation in the countries of the Eastern Partnership and in the Russian Federation, and aiming to contribute to democratic election processes throughout Europe. www.epde.org

Swedish International Liberal Centre (SILC) is a liberal foundation that promotes the values of democracy and human rights. www.silc.se

International Elections Study Center is a non-profit organisation aiming at promotion of the non-partisan evaluation of the electoral process, study and dissemination of the best practices in election administration, legislation and rules based on international standards. www.iesc.lt

Golos is the most respected voters’ rights and election observation organization in Russia today. Established in year 2000 the organization now has citizen observers in nearly all regions in Russia, and has well-developed IT technologies for reporting in and communicating election fraud to the Russian public. www.golosinfo.org