Regional Roundtable on Digitalization of Electoral Processes: Perspectives on Cybersecurity and Interinstitutional Coordination Across the Western Balkans

From the basic management of webpages for public information purposes, internal ICT systems that facilitate daily work, election results transmission systems, to state of the art electronic voter identification, voting and counting technologies, Election Management Bodies (EMBs) across the Western Balkans are increasingly implementing digital tools in elections. 

Along with significant advantages, digitalization brings about challenges, which in recent years have had a large impact on the way elections are run globally, and how international best practices are developing. Issues are crosscutting and EMBs of many countries, in the region and at the European level, are intensifying cooperation between a diverse pool of institutions that play direct or indirect roles in the management of electoral process to protect the integrity of elections. 

The CEC Albania, International IDEA and the Rule of Law Centre of Finland are initiating a peer to peer exchange among EMBs and other relevant agencies that operate in the areas of digitalization/cybersecurity in the Western Balkans, in order to jointly explore experiences and best practices of interinstitutional cooperation in the digitalization of electoral processes. 

The two-day roundtable will take place in Tirana, Albania, on 4-5 July 2023, and discussions will focus on: trends in digitalization of electoral processes in the region; crosscutting dimensions and cybersecurity challenges; the trajectory of EMBs in the Western Balkans in setting up interagency cooperation at the domestic level; lessons learned and opportunities for replication in the region; best practices in interagency cooperation across Europe and beyond; EU level coordination-the prospect of accession countries.

This event is organized in the framework of the project “Integrity and Trust in Elections in Albania: Fostering Political Finance Transparency and the Safe Use of Information and Communication Technologies” co-implemented with the Rule of Law Centre of Finland. 

The event will be held in person/face to face. Simultaneous interpretation from and into: English, Albanian, Bosnian/Serbian/Montenegrin and Macedonian will be provided.