Bill Sweeney, IFES President & CEO, attended the Council of Europe's "Forum for the Future of Democracy" being held in Ukraine from October 21-23. The conference is entitled Electoral Systems: Strengthening Democracy in the 21st century. This workshop will examine the different ways in which electoral systems can affect election outcomes and responsible government formation, how to reinforce public confidence in the electoral process, and how to improve the participation of minorities in elections. Mr. Sweeney will participate in the conference's first panel addressing the future of elections. Hamo Danielyan, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at IFES' office in Armenia, will also participate in this conference. He will be part of a panel on increasing the legitimacy of elections through laws, institutions and processes.
21 to 23 October, Kiyv-Forum 2009: ''Electoral systems: strenghtening democracy in the 21st century''
How to increase the legitimacy of elections, reinforce public confidence and participation? How can electoral systems respond to new societal changes such as globalisation and the growing use of new technologies? What are the responsibilities of political parties in electoral processes? How can the media contribute to ensuring fair elections? What is the role of civil society for transparent and inclusive elections?
The President of Ukraine, Victor Yushchenko, and the Council of Europe’s newly elected Secretary General, Thorbjørn Jagland, will open the Forum to discuss these questions in six workshops bringing together personalities from politics (including from the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly), civil society, media and academia throughout Europe.
Samuel Žbogar, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia and Chair of the Committee of Ministers, Göran Lindblad, Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly and Ian Micallef, President a.i. of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities will contribute to discussions. Lluís Maria de Puig, President of the Parliamentary Assembly will participate in the closing session.
The Code of Good Practice in electoral matters and the Code of Good Practice in the Field of Political Parties of the Venice Commission – which is the Council of Europe's advisory body on constitutional matters – will shape the debate. The President of the Venice Commission, Jan Helgesen, will take part in a high-level panel debate on “the Future of Elections” moderated by Andrey Kulikov (ICTV Ukraine).
On the occasion of the Forum, Jean-Marie Heydt, President of the Council of Europe Conference of INGOs will also present the recently adopted Code of Good Practice on Civil Participation which underpins the general principles, guidelines, tools and mechanisms for active participation of non-governmental organisations in the decision-making process.
Conclusions
Speech by Samuel Žbogar
Speech by Thorbjørn Jagland
Speech by Keith Whitmore
Speech by Jean-Marie Heydt (Opening session)
Speech by Jean-Marie Heydt [fr] (Closing session)
Speech by Jean-Claude Frécon (Conclusions)
Code of good practice
Video Clip
Parliamentary Assembly at the forum