Stefanie Schiffer was denied a Russian visa
Berlin, October 8, 2018
Stefanie Schiffer, EPDE chair and since 2015 member of the board of the German-Russian high-level conference "Petersburger Dialog" was denied a Russian visa to attend the 17. annual conference of the Dialogue in Moscow on 7th and 8th October 2018. German mass media report critically on this decision. Schiffer claims that EPDE should be removed from the list of undesirable organisations at the earliest convenience. More...
European Exchange is calling against reforming PACE rules of procedure
Berlin, October 6, 2018
On October 9, a resolution on “Strengthening the decision-making process of the Parliamentary Assembly concerning credentials and voting” will be voted in the PACE session. If the resolution would be adopted, it would create possibilities to reintegrate Russian Federation in the Parliamentary Assembly already at PACE January 2019 session without Russia having implemented a single of PACE’s calls to stop its aggression in Ukraine. European Exchange is calling upon the members of PACE to vote against this resolution on October 9 session.
Russian Regional elections 2018: Politically biased election observation
Berlin, October 5, 2018
The majority of the international experts, who attended the regional elections in several Russian oblasts during the so-called single voting day, have a history of participating in various pro-Kremlin efforts. Although they were not officially accredited by Russia’s CEC as election observers, the Russian media and individual members of the CEC often referred to them as such. See the analysis of media publications on the elections and profiles of the international experts in our latest report. More...
EPDE Policy Alert - Electoral Reform in Ukraine #8
Kyiv, September 21, 2018
On 20 September 2018, the Ukrainian Parliament appointed 14 new members of the Central Election Commission (CEC) and, thus, all nominees proposed earlier by the President. At the same time, the Parliament dismissed 13 CEC commissioners whose terms formally expired already in 2014 (one member’s term ended in February 2017). The new CEC members are appointed for seven years. More...
EPDE calls on Russia: Remove the listing
Warsaw, September 13, 2018
On 10 September, at the OSCE-ODIHR Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM) in Warsaw, EPDE Chair Stefanie Schiffer called on the Russian Federation to withdraw the listing of EPDE and its Lithuanian member IESC as “undesirable organisations”. The listing had been imposed by the Russian Prosecutor General on 13 March 2018. More...
UKRAINE BEFORE ELECTIONS 2019 - REGIONS IN FOCUS
Berlin, September 7, 2018
The 14th annual conference of the KYIV DIALOGUE will be held on October 16-17, 2018, at the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Berlin and dedicated to the topic "Ukraine before Elections 2019 - Regions in Focus". What changes have occurred in Ukraine after almost five years since the Euromaidan? What are the prospects for a new political culture and electoral reform? We would like to discuss these and other issues with policy makers, politicians, journalists and civil society activists. More...
HDIM side event on electoral law reforms in Eastern Europe
Berlin, August 30, 2018
The European Platform for Democratic Elections holds a side event at the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting 2018 (HDIM) in Warsaw, which will take place on Monday, 10 September 2018 from 13:15-14:45. The Side Event will focus on electoral reform in Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, where changes to electoral laws are widely demanded by the citizen observers groups. More...
Annual GNDEM Conference
Colombo (Sri Lanka), August 25-26, 2018
Stefanie Schiffer represented EPDE at the annual conference of GNDEM (the Global Network of Domestic Election Monitors) in Colombo, Sri Lanka on August 25-26, 2018. The global network of citizens' election observers discussed the improvement of cross-boarder cooperation of citizens' election observers worldwide. EPDE contributed to the better detection of politically motivated ("fake") election observation through citizens' election observers.
EPDE Policy Alert - Electoral Reform in Ukraine #7
Kyiv, July 23, 2018
EPDE monitors the progress of electoral reform in Ukraine. Issue no. 7 of the “EPDE Policy Alert - Electoral Reform in Ukraine” concerns the renewal of the Central Election Commission. On 5 July 2018, the Ukrainian Parliament failed to renew the Central Election Commission (CEC). Only 189 out of 226 required MPs supported the motion to hold a vote (1) on the dismissal of 13 acting members of the CEC whose terms expired already in June 2014 and February 2017, and (2) on the appointment of 13 new members. More...
„Fake Observation“ is a point of entry into political corruption
Berlin, July 16, 2018
On 9 July 2018, within the 27th Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) in Berlin, the European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE) held the side event “New Challenges to the International Election Observation”. The event was hosted by Isabel Santos, Vice President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, and focussed on biased election observation as well as the shrinking space for independent civil society election observation. More...