Europe and Eurasia (E & E)

Europe and Eurasia (E & E) JUNE 2000 IFES ELECTION ADJUDICATION CONFERENCE Europe ACEEEO ...................................................p. 2 On 10-11 June in Yaremcha, Ukraine, IFES hosted Albania ......................................................p. 2 an international conference entitled “Election Dis- Bosnia and Herzegovina ..........................p. 4 pute Resolution: Global Perspectives.” Among the Macedonia .................................................p. 6 42 participants were Supreme Court judges, Consti- Moldova ...................................................p. 7 tutional Court judges, judges from oblast courts, Russian Federation ...................................p. 9 county courts, and courts of first instance, and law- Ukraine .....................................................p. 10 yers from Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia- Yugoslavia (Kosovo) .................................p. 11 Herzegovina, Croatia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Mex- Yugoslavia (Serbia) ...................................p. 14 ico, Moldova, Tajikistan, United States, and Ukraine. Participants considered the role of the ju- Caucasus/Central Asia diciary in the electoral process and its obligation to Armenia .....................................................p. 15 protect the right to elect and be elected. Azerbaijan .................................................p. 17 Georgia .....................................................p. 17 To add an international perspective to the confer- Kazakhstan ................................................p. 19 ence, Judge Bohdan Futey, of the U.S. Court of Kyrgyzstan .................................................p. 20 Federal Claims, delivered a presentation on main- Tajikistan ...................................................p. 21 taining judicial independence, and Magistrate J. Je- Uzbekistan .................................................p. 22 sus Orozco Henriquez, Federal Election Tribunal of Election Dispute Resolution ......................p. 1 Mexico, spoke on the establishment of specialized judicial or administrative structures to address election disputes. Participants also examined areas of jurisdiction, burdens of proof, the right to free elections, and judicial ethics. The primary goal of the conference was to facilitate discussion on proper procedures and improvements to legislation and practice. The format of the conference provided ample time for discussion and de- bate. Dr. Juliana Geran Pilon, IFES Vice President Nana Klargeoshvili, Justice of the Administrative Chamber of the for Programs, and Judge Vasyl Humeniuk, Supreme Supreme Court of Georgia, delivers a presentation at the interna- Court of Ukraine moderated the discussion. tional adjudication conference. Also pictured are J. Jesus Orozco Henriquez, Federal Election Tribunal of Mexico; Vasyl Humeniuk, (Continued on p. 23) Supreme Court of Ukraine, and Dr. Juliana Geran Pilon, IFES Vice President for Programs. Page 1 EUROPE ticipants during breaks, lunches, and official exhibition hours. Participants expressed genuine interest ASSOCIATION OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN in the exhibition, and the exhibitors seemed pleased with the design and the amount of attention re- EUROPEAN OFFICIALS ceived. Summary The 2000 Conference of the Association of Central and Eastern European Election Officials (ACEEEO) was held in Warsaw, Poland from 14-16 June. This year's theme was "Information Technology in Elec- tions" and was attended by more than 100 delegates from over 20 countries, as well as numerous observ- ers and election equipment and supplies vendors. Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski addressed to the conference on day one and IFES was pleased that Richard Soudriette, Juliana Pilon, Matt Curtis, Denise Wales, and Jeffrey Carlson, as well as IFES field staff from Bosnia-Hercegovina and Albania IFES President Richard Soudriette and ACEEEO Executive were able to participate in various capacities. Director Zolton Toth at the ACEEEO Conference in Warsaw. This year’s highlight was the addition of two new Joint Projects members of the Association - Turkey and Mace- In a collaborative effort between IFES, the donia - bringing the total to 18. Several additional ACEEEO and the University of Essex, a web-based countries have expressed an interest in joining, and compendium of election results and legislation was should officially join in the next year. In addition to announced at the Conference. www.essex.ac.uk/ small revisions in the ACEEEO’s Charter, a new elections provides a new, user-friendly website that seven-member Executive Board was elected with provides hard-to-find information on election laws representatives from Poland, Slovakia, Latvia, and election results dating back to 1990 in more Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine and Croatia. In addition, than 20 Central and East European countries. It is a next year’s conference was announced with a focus valuable source of information for lawmakers, elec- on campaign and election finance to be hosted by tion officials, journalists and researchers interested the CEC of Croatia in Zagreb. in the region. With parliamentary and/or presiden- tial elections scheduled throughout Central and The ACEEEO Secretariat and this year’s host the Eastern Europe this year, the site will be of great National Electoral Office (NEO) of Poland demon- value. strated their capacity to take on the great majority of conference organizing. Two key workshops were ALBANIA arranged by NEO and ACEEEO. The first was led by the head of NEO’s technical department and two Revised Initiatives with the Government people from Poland’s largest election supplies com- A year ago, IFES undertook three initiatives with pany, Prokom Software. A second workshop, led the Government of Albania: drafting a new elec- by ACEEEO Secretariat Head Istvan Zsuffa, effec- toral code, establishing a new Central Election tively drew in a good discussion from participants, Commission, and the Electoral Assistance Project. several of whom mentioned to IFES that it was one With the passage of the electoral code and the estab- of the most valuable parts of the conference. lishment of the new CEC in May, the initiatives were revised. IFES’ re-designed program will con- Exhibition tinue to focus on preparations for upcoming local IFES led the preparation for the vendor exhibition elections in the following way: advising the new including the recruitment of Western companies. CEC on regulatory and administrative procedures ACEEEO was asked to recruit European companies. for the upcoming elections; developing and imple- IFES contracted BSC to locate the exhibition space menting with the CEC an election official training and to provide booths, signage, electricity, and extra program, voter information, and candidate informa- equipment. The space layout was quite good and tion programs; and the completion of the Electoral allowed frequent and easy access by conference par- Assistance Project. Page 2 New Central Election Commission Personnel In early July, Constance Kaplan will join the IFES In June, the CEC was expanded with the addition of staff for two months to develop election official two new members. One vacancy still exists. On 10 handbooks and training modules for the CEC. June, Fotaq Nano was elected as the new Chair and Kaplan will also train a core group of domestic later in the week the Commission moved into tem- trainers who will then work with the CEC to train porary office space in the Palace of Congresses. election officials and party representatives, the lat- ter will be responsible for appointing pollworkers. Administrative and Regulatory Procedures During the month of May, IFES/Albania Program Complications in the Election Assistance Program Director Dickson Bailey met a number of times In June, the Election Assistance Program moved with CEC members and the new Chair to discuss into a critical phase with the beginning of the door- areas of assistance that IFES could provide. Verbal to-door enumeration. By the end of June a majority agreement was reached for the following IFES as- of communities had completed the enumeration. sistance: However, this only represents 50% of the popula- tion. Political and administrative difficulties in Ti- · Develop administrative and staffing proce- rana, Durres, Elbasan, Shkoder, Kukes and Lushjne dures; have delayed the enumeration in those localities. · Budget development, identification of supply Enumeration is expected to be completed by 10 July requirements, sources of supply and identifica- in all centers except Lushjne, which may be delayed tion of potential donors; longer due to political conflict. Delays in the enu- · Communication and supply distribution logis- meration have put considerable pressure on the new tics; data center. It may be difficult, for example, to pro- · Draft regulations required by the new electoral duce a comprehensive national list prior to the end code; of August as required by law, and the voter list revi- · Prepare training manuals for Local Govern- sion period during the first two weeks of the elec- ment Election Commissions, election day offi- tion campaign will be critical. cials and information booklets for parties and candidates; The EAP is producing a first-time voter identifica- · Prepare Civic education campaign including tion card for each person on the national voter list. the use of up to four hours of free time on pub- Because of delays in ordering supplies and current lic television and radio as provided by the new time restrictions,

Load more