PUBLIC DISCUSSION: ELECTION FRAUD AND ELECTION OBSERVATION IN EASTERN EUROPE

Warsaw, 11 December 2012: On 11 December 2012 European Exchange and Stefan Batory Foundation organized a public discussion "Election fraud and eleciton observation in Eastern Europe" at the Stefan Batory Foundation in Warsaw.

Election fraud has become a common tool to preserve power for some of the incumbent authoritarian regimes in Europe’s Eastern Neighbourhood region. Networks of Domestic election observation play a decisive role in the detection of election fraud and the mobilisation of citizens to defend free and equal suffrage.

What are the main findings of the monitoring of the latest elections in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia? How could domestic together with international election observers contribute to more transparency of the election processes? What are the main challenges, what are the perspectives for domestic election observation in Eastern Europe? How can European political and civil society institutions support the work of domestic election observers in Europe’s Eastern Neighbourhood?

• Tatyana Bogussevich, Senior Election Advisor of OSCE/ODHIR Election Department, Warsaw

• Uladzimir Labkovich Human Rights Centre Viasna/ Aleh Hulak Belarusian Helsinki Commitee

• Oleksandr Chernenko, Committee of Voters of Ukraine

• Lilia Shibanova, Association GOLOS Russia

Moderation: Stefanie Schiffer, European Exchange, Berlin