Who does what in the electoral cycle
Over the years, The Council of Europe has developed a wide range of expertise on elections, setting standards, monitoring and co-operating with those involved in elections at national level, both in member states and beyond.
Many different parts of the Council of Europe are involved in this work. They include:
Committee of Ministers
- Council of Europe’s statutory decision-making body;
- Supervision of execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, in accordance with Article 46 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
The Parliamentary Assembly
- observes parliamentary and presidential elections, and referendums;
- reports on election observations and on issues related to elections;
- addresses issues identified in election observation reports through its committees, including diaspora voting; media and social media in election campaigns; gender equality;, and transparency of foreign donations to political parties;
- follows up issues identified in observation reports through the Monitoring Committee;
- organises conferences and seminars on election related themes in close cooperation with the Venice Commission;
- co-operates with other international organisations in observing elections.
The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
- observes local and regional elections in Council of Europe member states and beyond, upon invitation by state authorities;
- adopts election observation reports approved by its Monitoring Committee at plenary sessions;
- follows up on recommendations: reports on recurring and transversal thematic issues and post-electoral dialogue;
- raises awareness and builds capacity as part of co-operation programmes;
- co-operates with other international organisations observing elections.
Council for Democratic Elections
- "The Council for Democratic Elections, created following the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly calling for the drafting of a Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters, is the only tripartite body of the Council of Europe, comprising members of the Venice Commission, the Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. The OSCE/ODIHR regularly participates in its work.
- After the Code was adopted and endorsed by the Committee of Ministers, the Assembly and the Congress, the Council became permanent. It examines all opinions and documents of a general nature (codes of good practice, guidelines, etc.) in the field of elections and political parties before they are submitted for adoption to the Venice Commission.
- The aim of the Council for Democratic Elections is to unite in the same body the legal experience of the Venice Commission and the political experience of the Assembly and the Congress. The Council for Democratic Elections (CED) thus promotes common European values, the principles of the European electoral heritage. »
European Court of Human Rights
- rules on individual or state applications alleging violations of the civil and political rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights;
- issues factsheets on topics such as the right to vote and prisoners’ right to vote and has produced a guide to case law on electoral matters.
Directorate General Human Rights and Rule of Law (DGI)
The European Commission for Democracy Through Law (Venice Commission)
- deals with constitutional law standard setting such as the code of good practice in electoral matters;
- drafts legal opinions on election legislation, referendums and political parties;
- co-organises European conferences of electoral management bodies;
- runs the Council for Democratic Elections;
- organises multilateral or bilateral conferences and seminars;
- provides electoral assistance;
- gives legal advice to Assembly electoral observation missions;
- runs the electoral database ‘VOTA’.
Venice Commission - Elections and referendums, political parties
The Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights
- advises and assists the Committee of Ministers to supervise the execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights;
- provides support to member states in their efforts to achieve full, effective and prompt execution of judgments.
Department for the Execution of Judgments of the ECHR website
Department for the Execution of the Judgments of the ECHR contact webpage
The Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO)
- monitors how member states comply with Council of Europe standards on transparency of election and party financing;
- monitors how member states comply with Council of Europe standards on preventing corruption amongst members of parliament, judges and prosecutors;
- works on electoral issues with other bodies, both in the Council of Europe and externally.
The Information Society Department
- has published a guidance note on election interference by means of computer systems, part of the Cybercrime Convention;
- monitors interference with elections through malicious cyber activities and data used in elections and election campaigns;
- raises awareness and builds capacity on election security;
- jointly runs the Cyber East Project (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus). Produced a thematic video on election interference/election cyber threats, a webinar on election security and organised a technical exercise in Georgia focusing on election security;
- follows issues related to the media.
- The Committee of Convention 108 will continue to undertake normative work on the protection of personal data in the context of elections with particular attention to biometric data, different databases, artificial intelligence, as well guarantees and safeguards in this context including sensitive data.
Action against Cybercrime website
Action against Cybercrime contact webpage
Freedom of expression contact webpage
Directorate General of Democracy and Human Dignity (DGII)
The Elections and Participatory Democracy Division
- deals with electoral co-operation, technical assistance and advice, capacity building for election commissions and other stakeholders involved in elections;
- develops and implements co-operation programmes in member states, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine;
- follows up recommendations from the Assembly, Congress, Venice Commission and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR);
- raises voter awareness and enhanced participation in elections;
- runs “ElecData”, the Council of Europe compendium of electoral data;
- produces studies, toolkits and carries out research on electoral matters and trends.
Elections and Participatory Democracy Division website
Elections and Participatory Democracy Division contact webpage
The European Committee on Democracy and Governance (CDDG)
- provides an intergovernmental forum where experts develop European standards and discuss trends on the state of democratic governance in Europe;
- maintains an important focus on administrative and territorial reforms, on the values guiding the work of public authorities, and on strengthening democratic institutions at all levels of government;
- provides direct support to member states by organising exchanges among peers and rapid responses to legal questions. It also oversees the work of the Division of Elections and Participatory Democracy.
- Ensures periodic reviews of the recommendation on e-voting and is working on a draft recommendation on principles of good democratic governance at all levels of government, also addressing free and fair elections.
The Gender Equality Division
- works toward the strategic objective of achieving balanced participation of women and men in political and public decision-making, based on the recommendation on balanced participation of women and men in political and public decision-making and the recommendation on preventing and combating sexism.
The Directorate of Democratic Participation, Youth Department
- prioritises young people’s participation in political processes;
- develops and carries out youth policies and oversees a pan-European platform for exchange of experience and good practice, co-managed by young people;
- provides education and training for youth organisations;
- organises research and knowledge sharing to strengthen youth civil society, democratic citizenship and youth participation;
- offers educational and training activities in the European youth centres;
- offers grants to national and international NGOs through the European Youth Foundation to support their youth participation projects.
The Anti-Discrimination Department, Steering Committee on Anti-Discrimination, Diversity and Inclusion (CDADI)
- organises Roma Political Schools – to promote Roma political participation and civic engagement;
- offers training for electoral participation, raising Roma voter awareness and greater participation in elections;
- carried out a study on the active political participation of national minority youth in Council of Europe member states.