15th European Conference of Electoral Management Bodies “Security in Elections”

 

Thursday, 19 April 2018

08.00-08.50     Registration of participants

 

09.00-09.30 – Opening session

 

Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe (speech)

Monica Mæland, Minister of Local Government and Modernisation of Norway (speech)

Gianni Buquicchio, President of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe (speech)

 

09.30-10.00 – Group photo

 

10.00-11.30 – First plenary session: Norms, standards and good practices aimed at securing elections

 

Moderated by Oliver Kask, Judge, President of the Council for Democratic Elections and Member of the Venice Commission (speech)

  • Warm-up discussion
  • Interventions:

Addressing cybercrime in the election process:  the role of the Council of Europe’s Budapest Convention on Cybercrime – Alexander Seger, Head of the Cybercrime Division of the Council of Europe  (presentation)

The contribution of the Council of Europe in establishing international norms and standards to ensure secure use of new technologies in elections – Ardita Driza Maurer, Lead Expert of the Council of Europe’s Ad hoc Committee of Experts on legal, operational and technical standards for E-voting (CAHVE), Doctoral researcher, Zurich University, Zentrum für Demokratie Aarau, Switzerland (presentation)

#Democracy2018: institutional safeguards to e-challenges by José Luis Vargas, Justice at the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary of Mexico, substitute Member of the Venice Commission (speech)

Security versus trust: The trolls of democracy – Rafael Rubio Núñez, Deputy Director for Studies and Research at the Centre for Political and Constitutional Studies, Ministry of the Presidency and Territorial Administrations, Spain (speech)

 

11.30-12.00 – Coffee break

12.00-13.15 – Working sessions

 

1) Public trust in elections, an essential component of democratic elections

(Interpretation: French and English)

Moderated and introduced by Gregor Wenda, Deputy Head of Elections Department, Federal Ministry of the Interior of Austria (presentation)

  • Warm-up discussion

 

2) Good practices in member States aimed at securing elections

(Interpretation: French, English and Russian)

Moderated by Fernanda Rodriguez, Head of the International Affairs Unit at the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary of Mexico

  • Warm-up discussion
  • Intervention:

Measures taken by the Dutch authorities to counter undesirable influence during the use of vote count software – Jan Kees Wiebenga, Chairperson of the Electoral Council of the Netherlands (presentation)

 

3) How to improve the legal mechanism aimed at securing elections?

(Interpretation: French and English)

Moderated by Eirik Holmøyvik, Professor of constitutional law at the University of Bergen, substitute Member of the Venice Commission

  • Warm-up discussion

 

13.15-14.30 – Lunch break

14.30-16.00 – Second plenary session: Electoral security

 

Moderated by Chemavon Chahbazian, Head of the Election Observation and Interparliamentary Co-operation Division, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

  • Warm-up discussion
  • Interventions:

The importance of security forces in an election. Presentation of the Guidelines for Public Security Providers in elections – Steven Martin, Senior Election Adviser at the OSCE/ODIHR (speech)

Beyond electoral security: Violence, conflict and peacebuilding in the electoral cycle - Michael Lidauer, Researcher, Election expert, Venice Commission (speech)

Protecting Election Integrity - Sean Evins, Head of Politics and Government Outreach team, Facebook

Social Media and Election Legimitacy - Damian Tambini, Research Director, Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science, Expert of the Council of Europe’s Media and Internet Division (presentation)

Improving the Organisation of Elections: results from surveys of Electoral Management Bodies, Leontine Weesing-Loeber, Co-convenor of the Electoral Management Research Network, University of East Anglia (presentation)

 

16.00-16.30 – Coffee break

 

16.30-17.45 – Working sessions

 

1) Co-ordination between EMBs, security forces and national/international actors

(Interpretation: French and English)

Moderated by Giorgi Sharabidze, Deputy Chairperson of the Central Election Commission of Georgia

  • Warm-up discussion
  • Intervention:

Experience of the Central Election Commission of Georgia in assuring electoral security – Giorgi Sharabidze, Deputy Chairperson of the Central Election Commission of Georgia (speech)

 

2) Electoral security – States in a state of emergency and in post-conflict areas

(Interpretation: French, English and Russian)

Moderated by Michael Lidauer, Election expert, Venice Commission

  • Warm-up discussion

 

3) Misinformation, disinformation, “fake news” during electoral campaigns – Bias on voter choice and unequal opportunities for candidates

(Interpretation: French and English)

Moderated and introduced by Damian Tambini, Expert of the Council of Europe’s Media and Internet Division

  • Warm-up discussion
  • Intervention:

Swedish perspectives on influence and resilience during the national elections – Björn Palmertz, Senior Analyst at the Center for Asymmetric Threat Studies, Swedish Defence University (speech)

 

17.45-18.15 – Debriefing from the working sessions and closing remarks of the first day

Moderated by Gaël Martin-Micallef, Legal Adviser, Division of Elections and Political Parties, Venice Commission

 

18.30-20.00 – Social programme: reception and guided tour of Oslo town hall, hosted by James Stove Lorentzen, Member of Oslo Municipal Electoral Committee and Oslo City Council

Friday, 20 April 2018

 

09.00-10.30 – Third plenary session: Addressing cybercrime and improving cybersecurity

 

Moderated by Siri Dolven, Deputy Director General, Department of Local Government, Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation of Norway

  • Warm-up discussion
  • Interventions:

Cybersecurity versus civil protection – Janne Hagen, Member of the Election Act Committee, former member of Committee of Digital Vulnerabilities in Society of Norway (presentation)

Cyber-attacks on democratic processes – Marnix Dekker, Coordinator at the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (presentation)

Cybersecurity of election technology: what can states do? – Liisa Past, Chief Research Officer of the Information System Authority of Estonia (presentation)

Cybersecurity awareness and countermeasures during the 2017 Norwegian parliamentary elections, Roar Thon, Specialist Director at the National Security Authority of Norway (presentation)

10.30-11.00 – Coffee break

 

11.00-12.15 – Working sessions

 

1) What type of cyber-attacks and cyber-interference can occur?

(Interpretation: French and English)

Moderated by Janne Hagen, Member of the Election Act Committee, former member of Committee of Digital Vulnerabilities in Society of Norway

  • Warm-up discussion
  • Interventions:

The impact of cyber risks on the stakeholder trust throughout the electoral cycle – Peter Wolf, International IDEA (presentation)

How to safeguard elections in Sweden from foreign influence? – Carl Sjöberg, Head of Unit for IT and Communication at the Election Authority of Sweden (presentation)

 

2) Information and communication technologies (ICTs): do they enhance public trust in elections or are they a danger to the credibility of elections?

(Interpretation: French, English and Russian)

Moderated by Laura Matjošaitytė, Chairwoman of the Central Election Commission of Lithuania

  • Warm-up discussion
  • Intervention:

How to use modern technologies securely by combining them with traditional methods throughout electoral processes? – Peter Erben, Senior Global Electoral Advisor at the International Foundation for Elections Systems (IFES) (speech)

 

3) How to prevent and respond to attacks? – Securing systems, criminal justice and political responses

(Interpretation: French and English)

Moderated by Marnix Dekker, Coordinator at the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security

  • Warm-up discussion
  • Intervention:

Safeguards put in place in Bulgaria aimed at preventing and/or tackling cyber-attacks – Ivillina Alexieva-Robinson, Chairperson of the Central Election Commission of Bulgaria (presentation)

Securing systems, the situation in Spain – Ana Cristina López López, Head of the Electoral Co-operation Unit, Ministry of the Interior of Spain (presentation)

Risk management and elections: the Estonian experience – Priit Vinkel, Head of the State Electoral Office of Estonia (presentation)

 

12.15-12.30 – Debriefing following the working sessions

Moderated by Pierre Garrone, Head of the Division of Elections and Political Parties, Venice Commission

12:30-14:00 – Lunch break

14.00-14.15 – Presentation of the Network of the Arab Organization for Electoral Management Bodies

By Zuhair Abu Faris, Member of the Independent Electoral Commission of Jordan, Head of the Executive Board of the Arab Organization for Electoral Management Bodies (presentation)

 

14.15-15.15 – Closing session: Discussion on and adoption of the conclusions of the 15th Conference of Electoral Management Bodies

Co-moderated by:

Sølve Monica Steffensen, Director General of the Local Government Department, Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation of Norway

and Simona Granata-Menghini, Deputy Secretary of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe