17th European Conference of Electoral Management Bodies, Friday, 13 November

14.00-16.00 – Fourth session: Holding elections during emergency situations – Challenges met and solutions found by the EMBs during the pandemic

Speaking Notes, Stewart Dickson, Congress Thematic Spokesperson on observation of local and regional elections and Rapporteur

Dear ladies and gentlemen,

it is my pleasure to participate in this conference today and talk to you about a very topical report, recently adopted by the Congress, and dealing with local and regional elections in major crisis situations.

As you are aware, elections, at different levels of government, have been postponed in many countries due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Some countries, despite practical obstacles and health risks entailed, decided to organise elections in these extraordinary circumstances. Each country faces this challenge in its own way, and it is indeed invaluable to share and exchange on different practices with electoral management bodies as we are doing today.

In my own country, local elections in England were postponed for one year. Serbia organised parliamentary and local elections this spring despite the spreading of pandemic. Likewise, local elections in countries such as Ukraine or Bosnia and Herzegovina have been held recently against the backdrop of a resurgence of coronavirus cases which is now swiping across Europe.

As we all know, holding elections under such circumstances has implications for campaigning, voter registration and, one could say most importantly, on the polling procedures and the practical organisation of the Election Day.

The Congress report I would like to present to you at this event addresses all these issues, while stressing in the first place that free and fair elections that are held periodically remain a bedrock of our democracies. At the same time, the current situation shows that local and regional authorities are in the forefront of coping with repercussions of the crisis. In this context, the democratic legitimacy of elected representatives in general, and on local and regional levels provided by free and fair elections is even more essential than ever.

In addressing this topic, the new Congress report builds on different approaches adopted in Europe and beyond, recently and during past crises, and makes clear that it’s a minimum core of fundamental principles of democratic elections that have to be respected, in all circumstances. As articulated by the Council of Europe Venice Commission, these principles include universal, equal, free and secrete suffrage.

At the same time, authorities have a fundamental obligation to protect life, health and security of the population, most importantly vulnerable groups. This proves challenging in the face of emergencies such as natural disasters, armed conflicts and terrorist threats, and, indeed, in case of a fundamental health crises such as the current COVID-19 pandemic.

We have seen that gatherings of people contribute to the propagation of the virus. However, gathering of people at campaign rallies and on the Election-Day is vital to truly democratic elections. So apparently, there is a tension between periodic elections and the protection of people’s lives, health and security. The report, nonetheless, suggests that this tension is surmountable. We could see in Bavaria, Germany, that postal voting can provide an alternative to in-person elections. In France we saw that mitigation measures were considerably stepped-up during the second round of local elections held in June, in order to provide a safe environment for the voters and the poll workers.

However, the risks can be only mitigated, not entirely eliminated, in most situations. Voting by post, on the other side, requires very reliable postal service and public trust in the security of the ballot. In addition, any widespread measures to overcome the challenges need to be carefully planned and sufficient funding is required. A temporary postponement may be therefore under certain circumstances and if allowed by law the most responsible decision, based on the advice of health experts and inclusive consultations with a broad range of stakeholders including associations of local and regional government.

The new Congress report also highlights the role of election observers. Paradoxically, when they are needed most, just like now during the pandemic, observers face unprecedented challenges to their work.

Observation of elections has become next to impossible during this year because of travel restrictions, quarantine measures and health risks. At the same time, practical feasibility of deploying delegations in the usual Congress format became almost insurmountable. It was for these reasons that our election observation mission to Serbia this spring had to be cancelled.

This approach finds support in the report which recognises all the obstacles to election observation in times of pandemic or similar exceptional situations. At the same time, it points out that certain activities may be necessary for the sake of the integrity of elections.

Therefore, the report identifies several alternative strategies to overcome safety and feasibility concerns while implementing meaningful observation activities and maintaining dialogue with interlocutors. This includes remote meetings with stakeholders and co-operation with domestic NGOs and international partners. This cannot replace the fully-fledged election observation missions, but at least allows for continued dialogue with important domestic stakeholders and a certain degree of observation.

On this basis, the Congress has so far conducted two election observation procedures regarding local elections in Ukraine and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In both countries, remote meetings have been held over two days with various interlocutors, including representatives of respective electoral management bodies whose contributions to our debates were invaluable. Among other things, the Congress delegation learned that lack of funding is often a major issue for electoral administration in adapting electoral procedures to the pandemic situation. As a result, funding of sanitary and hygienic measures is partly required from local government authorities for whom this often represents a significant financial burden. This is of course a concern for the Congress and will be mentioned, among other issues, in the information reports which follow the remote procedures and will be presented to the Congress Bureau.

I will end here, and I warmly recommend reading our report which I hope will help us continue adapting to the new reality. I am certain that in close cooperation we will succeed in preserving high quality of elections in Council of Europe states despite the challenging situation of COVID-19 pandemic.

Thank you for your attention and I look forward to listening to contributions of following speakers.