Dhaka, 3 February 2026: Election-Watch.EU is engaged in Bangladesh under the AHEAD (Action for a Holistic Electoral Approach for Democracy) Bangladesh project. Funded by the European Union, the project is implemented and coordinated by the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD), in partnership with the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD, providing support to political parties), and the national NGO Jaago Foundation (facilitating civic and voter education for women and youth).
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accountability, Bangladesh, Bangladesh 2026 elections, Bangladesh Referendum, Constitutional Referendum, election security, inclusion in elections
Geneva, 10-12 December 2025: The 2025 Declaration of Principles (DoP) Implementation Meeting, hosted by the United Nations (UN) in Geneva, brought together international and citizen election observers, multilateral organisations, regional bodies, and digital-platform representatives to assess the state of election observation amid growing democratic pressure.
Election-Watch.EU has been an endorsing member organisation of the DoP since 2024 and participated for the [...]
data protection in elections, Declaration of Principles, Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation, DoP, election observation, election security, human rights defenders, transparency of political campaign, United Nations
Brussels, 23-24 September 2025: At FURIC 2025 – Follow-Up on Recommendations’ Implementation Conference in Brussels, Armin Rabitsch, Chairperson of Election-Watch.EU, contributed as closing commentator to the opening high-level panel entitled “Securing Elections in a Weaponized Information Space: The EU’s Response to Authoritarian and Digital Threats.”
The panel brought together Members of the European Parliament, senior representatives [...]
accountability, citizen led election observation, data protection in elections, election security, EP elections 2024, equality, FURIC, inclusion in elections, transparency, transparency of political campaign
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
Vienna, Berlin, 23 January 2025: Election-Watch.EU (as wahlbeobachtung.org) conducted a social media monitoring of the Austrian electoral campaign 2024 together with other researchers. In the study we examine toxicity, hate speech, and extremism on Austrian online and social media platforms, as well as on Telegram channels, ahead of the elections. This study displays findings in graphs to provide a better understanding and, in addition, includes a disinformation case study.
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accountability, citizen led election observation, data protection in elections, extremism, hate speech, inclusion in elections, social media monitoring of electoral campaigns, Telegram monitoring, toxicity, transparency, transparency of political campaign
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
Gdansk, 20-22 November 2024: Election-Watch.EU participated for the first time as an endorsing member at the annual implementation meeting of the Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation in Gdansk/Poland. Hosted by OSCE / ODIHR, and opened by former Polish President and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Lech Wałęsa, the event took place in [...]
2024 EP elections, accountability, data protection in elections, Declaration of Principles, DoP, election security, endorsing DoP member, EP elections 2024, equality, inclusion in elections, transparency, transparency of political campaign