Telebridge through the Commonwealth

Awarding ceremony of the winners of the quiz among CIS students on the electoral law and process in the form of a multilateral teleconference took place in Tavrichesky Palace. Besides the Central platform in St. Petersburg, the live broadcast was provided at the News Agency Sputnik platforms in Baku (Azerbaijan Republic), Yerevan (Republic of Armenia), Nur Sultan (Republic of Kazakhstan), Bishkek (Kyrghyz Republic) and Chisinau (Republic of Moldova).

The teleconference was devoted to summing up the results of the qualifying round and presenting the winners of the national selection stage of the quiz among students of national universities of the IPA CIS Member Nations and future participants in the scientific debates, dedicated to the Day of Democracy. The quiz was attended by more than 500 students studying in 59 capital and regional universities from six Commonwealth countries.

The ceremony was attended by Deputy Secretaries General: Plenipotentiary Representative of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Hayk Chilingaryan, Plenipotentiary Representative of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan Askhat Nuskabaj and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Irina Sokolova, as well as quiz organizers IPA CIS IIMDD, members of the national jury, participants and winners of the quiz, chairs of the jury of universities of St. Petersburg and Leningrad region.

IIMDD IPA CIS Deputy Director Ekaterina Goloulina moderated the teleconference. At the beginning of the video conference, she thanked for the cooperation and the methodical help in the organization of the qualifying round in preparation for the scientific debates of the Russian center for training election technologies under the CEC of Russia and its head Natalia Artykaeva, directors of IPA CIS IIMDD branches Elman Imamaliev, Islambek Murzabekova, Vahram Avetisyan, Eugenia Stirbu, CEC of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Head of the Department of Organization of the Electoral Training Makhabbat Boleeva, representatives of the CEC of the Republic of Moldova, professors and teachers of higher education universities in the countries of the quiz placement.

Deputy Secretary General of the IPA CIS Council – Plenipotentiary Representative of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Hayk Chilingaryan in his welcoming speech noted the creativity activities of the IPA CIS, which manifested itself in the organization of a number of events, including such a new type, as well as the active work of the IPA CIS IIMDD Yerevan branch.

IPA CIS IIMDD Director Dmitry Gladey stressed the important role of various forms of work with young people in the educational and advisory activities of IPA CIS IIMDD and its branches.

The quiz winners Lilia Rudakova and Stanislav Kukartsev told about the status of the quiz at the Russian state pedagogical University named after A. I. Herzen and the Research University of the higher school of Economics.

Then Ekaterina Goloulina gave the floor to the video-conference platforms in the CIS IPA Member States. The Chair of the national jury were the Director of the IPA CIS IIMDD Baku branch Elman Imamaliyev, Director of the IPA CIS IIMDD Bishkek branch of Islambek Murzabekov, Director of the Yerevan IPA CIS IIMDD branch Vahram Avetisyan, Director of the IPA CIS IIMDD Chisinau branch of Eugene Stirbu, Head of the Department of Organization of the Electoral Training of the CEC of Kazakhstan Makhabbat Boleeva, as well as members of the national organization committee and the jury informed the participants about the features of the organization and progress of the intellectual competition in their countries.  

The winners of the quiz thanked the organizers of the event for the opportunity of intellectual competition and for the proposed format of organizational support at the stage of preparation for the debate, based on clear and convenient for young people online technologies. The scale of the event in the Republic of Kazakhstan was especially noticed. In Kazakhstan the quiz was held in two stages and attended by more than 170 participants. Ekaterina Goloulina stressed the need to use the experience of the Republic of Kazakhstan in preparation for the debate in 2020.

Summing up the video conference, Ekaterina Goloulina reminded that the next stage of the competition would be the scientific debates. That debates would be held in September in St. Petersburg, at the IPA CIS Parliamentary Center, she also expressed confidence about that an online meeting would be the first in a series of many summer video sessions, and she hoped that the list of information resources, prepared by experts of the IPA CIS IIMDD, would allow teams to improve skills and enter the discussion platform in the best intellectual form.

In the Reading Hall of the Tavrichesky Palace were discussed the importance of international communication among young people, the desire to find different forms of communication and develop existing contacts.

Participants confirmed that the main purpose of today's event was providing an opportunity for live communication for team members at the September debate, the opportunity to feel the excitement, their personal role and responsibility for the outcome of future friendly battles and this aim is completely fulfilled.