Vienna, 28 October 2025: Election-Watch.EU, in partnership with its network of experts and organisations, is implementing an EU-funded project within the EU and its Member States to strengthen electoral integrity, advocate for citizen-led election observation, and enhance participation of mobile EU citizens. A Project Implementation Team (PIT) coordinates all activities, including project management, research, advocacy, gender and inclusion, and communications.
To support sound financial management [...]
citizen led election observation, EP elections 2029, equality, inclusion in elections, recruitment, transparency, transparency of political campaign
Berlin, Brussels, 4 September 2025: Since 2023, landmark legislation like the EU’s AI act and Digital Services Act came into effect, while novel generative AI technologies came into widespread mainstream use. Numerous elections in Europe marked by disinformation and foreign interference (e.g., Romania 2024). Globally, the 2024 Trump re-election and Musk’s takeover of X accelerated rollbacks in moderation and fact-checking.
DRI organised [...]
accountability, Austrian elections, Austrian general elections, election observation, election security, social media monitoring, social media monitoring of electoral campaigns, Telegram monitoring, transparency
Brussels, 9 July 2025: Election-Watch.EU, met with the Member of the European Parliament Mr. Borja Giménez Larraz (European People’s Party (EPP, Spain), rapporteur of the European Parliament on the 2018 amendment of the European Electoral Act (Council Decision (EU, Euratom) 2018/994).
During the meeting, Mr. Rabitsch presented the work of Election-Watch.EU, promoting citizen election observation and strengthening electoral integrity [...]
2018 Electoral Act, 2018 EP electoral reforms, 2024 EP elections, citizen led election observation, EP elections 2024, equality, Spain, threshold, transparency
European Union,General,International
Brussels/Vienna, 19 March 2025: The Electoral Integrity Project and The Westminster Foundation for Democracy organised an online conference on “Electoral Reform: Democratic Principles and Global Practice” on 19-21 March 2025.
Armin Rabitsch and Markus Pollak from Election-Watch.EU presented their paper: What remains to be done: Thinking through Reforms of the European Parliament Elections using a powerpoint presentation.
The paper revisits the historical [...]
2024 EP elections, citizen led election observation, electoral reforms, participatory electoral reforms
European Union,General,International
Brussels, 11-12 December 2024: Elections globally are facing increasing challenges to their integrity, driven by disinformation, cyberattacks, foreign covert operations, and other hybrid threats. This necessitates a rethinking of approaches by both election organisers and election observers to better understand these risks and adapt processes accordingly. For citizen and international observers, this raises questions about whether current methodologies [...]
2024 EP elections, accountability, citizen led election observation, data protection in elections, election security, EP elections 2024, hybrid threats, inclusion in elections, transparency of political campaign
Austria,European Union,International
Vienna, Berlin, 9 December 2024: In the recent general elections, Austria’s Freedom Party (FPÖ) secured its position as the largest party in Parliament for the first time. Election-Watch.EU examined the role of Telegram in shaping political discourse during this period in a collaborative effort with [...]
Austrian general elections, citizen led election observation, data protection in elections, election security, equality, social media monitoring, Telegram
Austria,European Union,General,International
Venice, 6-7 December 2024: The Venice Commission (VC; European Commission for Democracy through Law; Council of Europe) acknowledged Election Observers as Human Rights Defenders. Venice Commission Report Election Observers as HR Defenders
The Venice Commission points out in particular that:
➡️ States should adopt the necessary provisions in national legislation to provide sufficient possibilities to observe elections;
➡️ All states should foresee in [...]
accountability, citizen led election observation, equality, inclusion in elections, transparency, transparency of political campaign
Austria,European Union,General,International
Brussels, Vienna, 30 September 2024: Today, Election-Watch.EU published its Final Report with key findings, good practices and recommendations of the Election Assessment Mission (EAM) to the 2024 European Parliament Elections. From the beginning of May to mid-June, the Mission assessed the European elections across the 27 EU Member States based on six key principles: integrity, inclusion, accountability, transparency, equality, and resilience.
Reference report [...]
2024 EP elections, accountability, citizen led election observation, data protection in elections, election security, EP elections 2024, equality, featured-en, inclusion in elections, transparency, transparency of political campaign
Brussels, Vienna, 24 September 2024: The final Supporting Engagement in European Elections and Democratic Societies (SEEEDS) project webinar focused on the 2024 European Parliament elections.
Panelists included Marie-Hélène Boulanger of the [...]
2024 EP elections, accountability, citizen led election observation, election security, EP elections 2024, equality, inclusion in elections, transparency, transparency of political campaign