Programme outline

In the 2011 Gaborone Declaration, participants in the GEO-5 highlighted the importance of establishing and strengthening the professionalism of credible electoral institutions. They also called for greater attention to the importance of promoting gender equality in all economic, political and social contexts and empowering women in the conduct and administration of elections. Electoral integrity is thus more than the mere absence of political manipulation and fraud, but includes a comprehensive alignment of electoral rules and practices with the relevant international standards, such as human rights, inclusion, fairness and equality. Electoral integrity also relates to more than the electoral legal framework and administration as such, but also encompasses the broader context of pluralism, fairness and the full enjoyment of civic and political rights. Only by living up fully to the highest standards of inclusion and integrity can elections and electoral administrations be awarded with credibility and legitimacy by the electorate.

Day 1 - Sustaining Electoral Integrity

The Conference Opening will lay out the overarching theme of ‘Sustainable Electoral Processes, Strengthened Democracy’ and will be followed by a High Level Discussion on the Global State of Elections and Democracy. This will take into account the significant global developments in this regard since the last GEO Conference in Botswana in 2011, in particular the ongoing but difficult democratization processes in the Middle East and North Africa region, intensified regional cooperation in the field of human rights and democratic elections, as well as the follow-up to “Deepening Democracy”, the report of the Global Commission on Elections, Democracy and Security, presented in 2012. The timing of the GEO-2013 also coincides with a global debate on development goals to succeed the Millennium Development Goals after 2015, a priority for the UN and UNDP. Consultations so far have overwhelmingly called for democratic governance and accountability to be more strongly reflected in the future set of development goals, bringing sustainable and credible electoral processes to the center of the global development debate.

Two Plenary sessions and three breakout sessions on Day 1 will focus on analyzing and understanding three different pre-conditions for sustaining electoral integrity across the electoral cycle. The breakaway sessions will provide an opportunity for participants to explore in-depth three different threats to electoral integrity and share experiences on how these threats have been addressed sustainably in different contexts:

• Marginalization and Exclusion of Women: Ensuring an inclusive process: Addressing women’s political and electoral participation
• Fraud and Manipulation: Preventing electoral fraud and manipulation: standards and the role of democratic citizenship education and electoral observation
• Electoral Violence:Understanding electoral violence and security: How to mitigate risks to the electoral process

Day 2 - Capacity Building and Professional Development of Election Officials

Enabling electoral management bodies, as well as other electoral stakeholders, to uphold the highest standards of integrity sustainably is only possible through consistent capacity building and professional development of election officials. This relates first and foremost to staff of Election Management Bodies themselves, but should also be understood more broadly to include all those that have functions and responsibilities in the successful conduct of elections throughout an electoral cycle. This session will focus on understanding the capacity building, training and professional development challenges that electoral management bodies face in their day-to-day work. It aims to promote knowledge on how political contexts and technical challenges can affect how an EMB builds capacity.

The break-out sessions will look at broad capacity building, training and professional development questions facing electoral practitioners in today’s world. The ambition of the sessions is to promote discussion amongst participants to identify lessons for improving institutional and professional development of EMBs and their staff, as well as of other key election stakeholders.

• Capacity development for election management bodies: What initiatives exist? Do they work? Do they address employee and organizational capacity?
• Electoral Information and Knowledge: Harnessing electoral knowledge and information, what information is out there? Are there gaps? What knowledge and platforms does EMB staff use?
• International Assistance Programmes: Effectiveness and sustainability

The afternoon break-away sessions will zoom in and give extra focus to specific aspects of training staff with “how-to” sessions led by experienced practitioners:

• Stakeholder relationships: Managing relationships with stakeholders and its impact on an EMBs ability to deliver credible elections 
• Retaining talent: Identifying and retaining talent: The key to recruiting and motivating staff
• Assessing sustainable ICT: How to assess the sustainability of ICT and whether it will make your work more effective and efficient?

During Day 2, participating organizations will have an opportunity to showcase publications released since the last GEO, arrange stalls for electoral training centers, ACE, BRIDGE, as well as other electionrelated innovations, and cooperative achievements, during a knowledge fair.

Day 3 - Promoting Cost-Effectiveness in Electoral Processes

The issue of cost-effectiveness in electoral processes has become a subject of intense debate in recent years and is critical for the sustainability of democratic elections. In the specific scenario of new democracies emerging from armed conflict, dramatic cost decreases may be expected once peace is achieved and reconciliation fares well. All steps toward and investments in peace, security and national reconstruction also lead to a reduction in the integrity costs of elections. Other electoral costs may remain constant or even increase (i.e., personnel and technology), but significant integrity costs will certainly be reduced with democratic progress. 

The duration of electoral practice is in itself perhaps the most important cost-reducing factor during democratic consolidation. Although a longer-term perspective is by definition difficult when assessing election costs in new democracies, efforts at capacity building in electoral administrations are likely to be cost-effective in the longer term. In well-established democracies, electoral costs tend to increase due to personnel expenses, high-tech investment and maintenance, and special efforts to enfranchise certain populations. Concerning the cost of voter lists, a main lesson learned is that permanent and periodically updated registries promote both transparency and cost-effectiveness. 

High-technology investment in itself should not be considered as a cost-effective measure unless it is related to products and processes leading to long-term cost reductions in the electoral operation. Political party finance and campaign expenses fall largely in a grey area concerning electoral costs, but  need to be considered in the broader context of electoral cost-effectiveness.