On 5 March, the Council of Europe Office in Georgia and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) hosted an online conference on Disinformation and Electoral Campaigns.

Head of the Council of Europe Office in Georgia, Ms Natalia Voutova and Ambassador of France to Georgia, Mr Diego Colas, delivered opening remarks. Panel sessions addressed challenges related to disinformation, misinformation and propaganda during electoral campaigns, focusing on domestic context. Mr Markus Adelsbach, Head of the Council of Europe Elections and Civil Society Division, delivered closing remarks.

At the conference experts, electoral stakeholders, representatives from civil society organisations and international community exchanged views on technical and political perspectives of disinformation, good international practices and preventive measures to tackle disinformation during electoral processes, both self-regulatory and statutory options.

A live streaming of the conference, at the Facebook page of the Council of Europe’s Office in Georgia, provided access to the event for general public.

The conference was organised within the framework of the Council of Europe project ‘Supporting Transparency, Inclusiveness and Integrity of Electoral Practice and Process in Georgia’.