On February 24-26, the Central Election Commission (CEC) hosted the annual meeting of the Election Management Bodies in Batumi. The theme of the event was Inclusive Elections.

Tamar Zhvania, Chairperson of the CEC, Matt Gokhool, Chief Executive of the International Center for Parliamentary Studies (ICPS) and Niels Scott, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative made opening remarks at the 5th Annual Event.

The meeting participants have shared experiences, challenges and approaches they have utilized while making the election process available to everyone including groups with special needs, ethnical, religious and other minorities, women, etc.

The annual meetings support communication and foster cooperation amongst participating Election Management Bodies.

At the end of the two-day conference the CEC of Georgia, its Training Center and ICPS, in cooperation with Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary of Mexico and Permanent Electoral Authority of Romania, presented the joint initiative of establishing the International Association of Election Training Organizations (IAETO). At the same meeting the Memorandum of Intention on IAETO was signed, envisaging appropriate exchange of experience and expertise among members with the objective of improving training and capacity building in the electoral field.

Representatives of 19 election management bodies and various international non-governmental organizations were participating in the event (please see the list below).

The meeting was organized in close cooperation with the International Center for Parliamentary Studies (ICPS).



The list of participating countries and organizations:

The election management bodies from the following countries are participating in the event: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Albania, Belarus, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, India, Kenya, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Moldova, Nepal, Romania, South Africa, Ukraine.

As well as the following international organizations: International Centre for Parliamentary Studies (ICPS), National Democratic Institute (NDI), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Council of Europe (CoE), International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR), Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD), Association of European Election Officials (ACEEEO), European Centre for Electoral Support (ECES).

Vendor Companies: Smartmatic, Scytl, Morpho, HSB Identification, Ideco, Supercom and Dermalog.

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