Ms Claudia Luciani, Director of Democratic Governance, DGII – Democracy will take part in a high level Parliamentary Conference on the implementation of the right to free elections in the countries of Eastern Partnership that will take place in Paris, from 4 to 5 June. The conference, jointly organised by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the French National Assembly aims at discussing the challenges in applying electoral legislation and Council of Europe standards in the field of elections. At the introductory session – Council of Europe standards in the field of elections, Ms Luciani will focus on targeted assistance to electoral stakeholders that is currently being developed by the Division of Electoral Assistance within the Directorate of Democratic Governance with a particular focus on the application by the domestic election observers of international standards and practice in the field of monitoring and reporting on elections.

This activity is part of the Programmatic Cooperation Framework between the Council of Europe and the European Union. The Division of Electoral Assistance currently implements two programmes within this framework: improving electoral practice in the Eastern Partnership (regional component) and strengthening the capacities of the Centre for Continuous Electoral Trainings by the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Moldova (bilateral).