This year, the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network celebrates 20 years as the world’s largest online source of electoral knowledge, promoting credible and transparent electoral processes around the world.
Celebrations kick off on 24 January, with the 20th Anniversary Reception at the International IDEA headquarters in Stockholm. Speakers include Ilona Tip, from the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA); André Fecteau, from Elections Canada; Manuel Carrillo, from the National Electoral Institute of Mexico (INE); Vasu Mohan from the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES); and International IDEA staff, Keboitse Machangana and Therese Peerce-Laanela.
A brief history
Launched at the United Nations in 1998 by International IDEA, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), ACE was initially created as the Administration and Cost of Elections project. It was the world’s first online resource of its kind in the field of elections.
Today, the project is known as the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network, expanding its mandate in 2006 to become a more dynamic and comprehensive peer network of over 1000 election professionals from around the world, providing real time knowledge services and exchange through the ACE Practitioners’ Network.
Reaching over two million visits per year, the ACE website now provides more than 10,000 pages of knowledge resources in Arabic, English, French, Russian and Spanish. This includes, among other things, the ACE Encyclopedia, which provides in-depth information about 13 topic areas covering the key steps of the electoral cycle; ACE Comparative Data, a systematic collection of election-related data for more than 200 countries and territories; and a virtual library of Electoral Materials from around the world.
The ACE Electoral Knowledge Network now has eight partner organizations, leading in the electoral processes field: The Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA), Elections Canada, Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE), the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), International IDEA, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Electoral Assistance Division of the UN Department of Political Affairs (UNEAD) and The Carter Center (TCC).
Stay tuned for more celebrations!
To celebrate its many successes, the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network will soon launch a structural revamp of the website as well as a 20-year Anniversary Timeline.
The ACE Electoral Knowledge Network will also be celebrated in Mexico City in October 2018 during the 8th Forum of Democracy in Latin America, organized by INE.
For more information about the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network contact Erik Asplund or Peter Wolf at International IDEA.
About the authors
