Round Table “Improving the accountability of Parliamentarians in election observation’’, March 7, 2017, Brussels

On March 7, 2017, European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE) - a platform of citizens’ election observation organizations from the EU-Eastern Partnership, the Russian Federation and the European Union organizes in Brussels a round table “Improving the accountability of Parliamentarians in election observation" in cooperation with the office of Vice-President of the European Parliament Alexander Graf Lambsdorff.

The event aims at discussing how politics and civil society can take action against the misuse of the instrument of international election observation.

• How can one assess what is “biased observation” and what is a methodologically professional and well-grounded election observation?
• Does the integration of official short-term parliamentary delegations into long-term missions reduce the risk of misleading/biased statements by parliamentarians?
• How can the instrument of political short-term election observation be adapted to the new geopolitical situation and be safeguarded from political hijacking?
• Which pre-emptive measures can be taken by national Parliaments or international Parliamentary bodies to prevent politically motivated observation?
• Should “sanctions” measures be taken against parliamentarians who have participated in biased observation and have spoken on behalf of the institution, without being authorised to do so? Are such measures realistic and efficient?
• Is there any positive experience in fighting politically-biased observation internationally?

Target audience: representatives from endorsing organisations of the “Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation and Code of Conduct for International Election Observers” (Members of the European Parliament), national parliamentarians from EU member states, civil society organisations.

Please see attached the EPDE paper "Detection and prevention of politically biased Election Observation (“Fake Observation”) in the OSCE Region"