Application of Modern Technologies in Election Observation Discussed at Scientific Conference

On 29 September 2020, the International Research and Practical Conference “Modern Technologies for Election Observation: Modeling and Application in the Context of Digitalization” organized by the IIMDD IPA CIS Chisinau Office was held via videoconferencing.

The conference was opened by Director of the IIMDD IPA CIS Chisinau Office Eugeniu Stirbu. He noted that the Republic of Moldova was among the countries that used digital technologies in electoral processes.

Secretary General – Head of the IPA CIS Council Secretariat Dmitriy Kobitskiy addressed the conference participants with a welcoming speech. He recalled that in 2002 the Convention on the Standards of Democratic Elections, Electoral Rights and Freedoms in the CIS Member States was signed in Chisinau. It is a framework document for international observation of elections in the Commonwealth region, which has systemized the standards of free and democratic elections for the first time. “In this context, it is very significant that the initiator of the conference on this issue was the IIMDD IPA CIS Chisinau Office,” stressed Dmitriy Kobitskiy.

Further, Deputy Head of the IPA CIS Council Secretariat – Director of the IIMDD IPA CIS, Doctor of Law, Professor Ivan Mushket delivered the welcoming speech of Deputy Secretary General of the IPA CIS Council – Plenipotentiary Representative of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova Ion Lipciu.

Ivan Mushket once again emphasized the relevance of the topic of the conference and expressed the hope that “the conference will make it possible to take another step towards the building of new, cutting-edge approaches to monitoring elections and will help determine further ways to improve international observation”.

Also, the conference participants were greeted by Chairman of the Committee of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova on Legal Issues, Appointments and Immunities Vasile Bolea, Adviser to the President of the Republic of Moldova Corneliu Popovici, Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Moldova Dorin Cimil and Program Director of the Promo-LEX Association (Republic of Moldova) Pavel Postica.

IIMDD IPA CIS expert, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of International Relations, and Acting Head of the Department of World Politics of St. Petersburg State University, Ph.D., Associate Professor Dmitriy Baryshnikov told the participants about the methodology and practice of international monitoring of elections in the Republic of Moldova with the participation of the IPA CIS observers.

The event was attended by representatives of the IPA CIS Council Secretariat, the IIMDD IPA CIS offices, the CIS Executive Committee, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), as well as the staff members of relevant universities.