Protecting Elections

The project has two main objectives namely 1) to develop a set of gender-sensitive global public goods, including a guide for practitioners, an assessment tool, a training curriculum and toolbox, that can inspire, enable and empower Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) and other stakeholders in protecting the integrity of electoral processes; and 2) to improve the capacity and practices of  EMBs and other stakeholders in countries that test, pilot, and use the framework to protect electoral integrity in the face of various risks and crises.

This landing page includes information and materials on the protecting elections project which started in January 2023 and is expected to be finalized in December 2025. The page was first published on 09 May 2023 and will be updated on a regular basis. 

The project is supported by the Government of Canada.

For more information on background research, see discussion paper: Protecting Elections: Risk Management, Resilience-building and Crisis Management in Elections.

Event photos can be found at https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBwyZf 

Project Updates

• In August 2024, the project was presented in Lusaka at the New Commissioners’ Orientation (NCO) Program for Southern Africa. The event was organized by International IDEA and the SADC-ECF, hosted by Electoral Commission of Zambia, and brought together 17 electoral commissions comprising commissioners and CEOs from Botswana, Eswatini, Malawi, Tanzania, Namibia, Seychelles, Zanzibar, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The project conceptualization and methodology were greatly appreciated amongst the participants. To read more about the event, check out the event article. 
• In August 2024, EMBs of Ethiopia, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Kenya and Botswana were exposed to the methodology of the Protecting Elections Workshop through the Regional Electoral Risk Management Workshop for Africa. The Workshop aimed to provide a platform for comparative learning on electoral risk management and provide guidance to EMBs that are working towards elections in the coming years. As part of the Workshop, the Integrated Framework for Protecting Elections - developed with the support of the Government of Canada - was introduced. Participants conducted several risk identification and classification exercises by using risk factors guides and Electoral Risk Heat Maps and indicated enthusiasm for conducting such exercises within their organizations.    
• In mid July, a ‘Technical and Advisory Support Event’ on the topic ‘Inter-agency Collaboration in Countering Hybrid Threats’ was organized in Port Louis together with the Office of the Election Commissioner of Mauritius. The event built on the previous workshops organized in the country and served to empower  participants to understand, identify, and counter hybrid threats to elections in a collaborative way. To read more about objectives and outcomes, see the event article (July, 2024). 
• 17-18 June 2024 a Protecting Elections workshop was organized together with the Finnish Ministry of Justice in Helsinki, Finland. Read more about it in the event article (June, 2024). 
• In early June, a mission was conducted to Sri Lanka to explore the Election Commission's interest in taking part in the project's implementation phase. After presenting the project's objectives and activities, the team received positive feedback and a formal partnership is now being considered (June, 2024). 
• 7-9 May 2024 a Protecting Elections Capacity Development Workshop was jointly organized in by International IDEA and the Office of the Election Commissioner (OEC) of Mauritius. The workshop took place in Port Louis and served as a sequel to the event held in February earlier this year. The objective was to further empower national stakeholders in protecting electoral integrity. For more details see the event article (May, 2024).
• Using the curriculum developed as part of the project, International IDEA hosted a "Protecting Elections Capacity Development Workshop" for 11 members and senior management of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Ukraine. The training was an opportunity to test the project resources while at the same time support the CEC in strengthening their knowledge and skills in electoral risk management, resilience-building and crisis management (April, 2024). 
   

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• As part of the project, a standard risk heat map has been adapted and developed to improve the understanding of overlaps and transitions between risk management, resilience-building and crisis management practices in elections. The 'Protecting Elections Risk Heat Map' has thus far proven very helpful in International IDEA's efforts to structure the conversation and organize workshops with national stakeholders on on risk management, resilience-building and crisis management. 
• In anticipation of the International Women's Day 2024, an article discussing the interconnections between gender equality and electoral integrity, as well as the project's efforts to advance both objectives, was published on International IDEA's website (March, 2024)
• 21st of February the first Protecting Elections' Workshop was organized in Port Louis together with the Office of the Election Commission (OEC) of Mauritius. The workshop brought together a  diverse group of representatives from state agencies to jointly map challenges to electoral integrity in the country, and possible actions to deal with related risks, threats, and crises. For more information on the findings and ways forward, see event article (February, 2024). 

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• In the beginning of 2024, a mission was organized to Panama to explore the Electoral Tribunal's (ET) interest to engage with the project. After fruitful discussions with the full panel of magistrates, interest was shown in participating in the project's implementation activities. More details about the discussions and the way forward can be found in the event report (February, 2024)
• As the project moves into its implementation phase, tests and pilots of the Integrated Framework resource package will be initiated in four countries across the world. After a successful consultation mission to Mauritius in November 2023, partnership has been formalized with the Office of Electoral Commission  (OEC) to engage as pilot country. The first activity will be a Protecting Elections Workshop organized in Port Louis in mid February 2024. More information will be shared following the workshop (February 2024). 

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• In November 2023, the project was introduced to a broad group of election officials and organizations at the 25th Annual General Conference (AGC) of the Electoral Commissions Forum of the SADC Countries (ECF-SADC) in Cape Town. This was an important opportunity to increase visibility for the project’s resources, objectives and activities in the region. Also, a meeting with electoral experts from the Electoral Commission of South Africa helped to validate the relevance of the concept and documents produced as part of it (November, 2023).  
• The Protecting Elections case studies on Timor-Leste and Brazil (see below) were promoted in The Electoral Integrity Project (EIP) Fall Newsletter 2023 (October, 2023).  
• The Electoral Integrity Project (EIP) Spring Newsletter 2023 included an article on the Protecting Elections project launch as well as some key take-aways from the Expert Group Meeting (see below). 
• An Expert Group Meeting was held 14-15 March 2023 and attended by 26 experts from EMBs, international organizations and academia, including International IDEA experts. Experts’ input strengthened and validated the project’s key concepts and implementation steps. Also, experts benefited by expanding their knowledge of challenges, policies and practices for protecting elections in different contexts. See more information in the event report (March, 2023).  
• International IDEA to Develop an Integrated Framework for Protecting Elections (Press Release, April 2023)
• Canada refers to the Protecting Elections project as it announces over $50 million in funding during second Summit for Democracy, (29 March 2023)
• PM Justin Trudeau  refers to Canada's support to International IDEA as he speaks at Summit for Democracy 2023 (YouTube, 29 March 2023) 

Case Studies

Timor-Leste: Resilient Elections Built on Experience (Case Study, August 2023)

Varieties of Electoral Integrity Risk: Protecting Elections in Brazil (Case Study, September 2023)

Protecting Electoral Integrity: The Case of South Africa (Case Study, November 2023)

 Protecting Elections: The Case of Kenya (Case Study, March 2024)

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Related International IDEA Analysis, Publications and News

• The Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Election Reformers Network have published a report on protecting elections. The report pulls lessons from six countries to suggest solutions the US can implement to combat mistrust and polarization in elections. To learn more, read the report here (June, 2023)
• The Protecting Elections Discussion Paper (June, 2023)
• International IDEA's Risk Management in Elections Guide has been published in French: Gestion des risques électoraux - Un guide pour les organes des gestion des élections (June, 2023) 
• Following her participation in the Protecting Elections Expert Meeting in March 2023, Madam Davidetta Browne Lansanah, Chairperson of the National Elections Commission (NEC) of Liberia, has initiated a case study on the Commission's work to protect elections. The study, which aligns with several of the critical concepts of the protecting elections framework, states that "(...) based on discussion at the recent Sweden IDEA meeting, the NEC is taking actions to institutionalize the assessment and management of risks in the Commission". To learn more on how the Commission will work, please have a look at the case study (June, 2023)
• The Electoral Tribunal of Panama held a spokespersons and crisis management workshop with the support of International IDEA. The workshop participants discussed methods and strategies of electoral crisis management with great relevance to the Protecting Elections project (May 2023)
• Elections in Emergencies and Crisis – book launched in the Swiss Parliament | International IDEA (May 2023)
• Elections during emergencies and crises - Lessons for Electoral Integrity from the Covid-19 Pandemic (May 2023)
• The Information Environment around Elections – A Knowledge and Resource Hub on Protecting Elections in the Online Space (February 2023)
• Insuring elections: A paradigm for protecting electoral integrity (Commentary, 06 Sep 2022)
• Wildfires, Hurricanes, Floods and Earthquakes: How Elections are Impacted by Natural Hazards (News Article, 1 September 2022)
• Electoral Processes: Navigating and Emerging from Crisis (Thematic Paper, 2021)
• The Global State of Democracy Report 2021 – Building Resilience in a Pandemic Era (Report, 2021)
• Protecting Elections – A Integrated Framework (News Article, 25 October 2021)
• Risk Management in Elections (Guide,1 July 2021)
• Cybersecurity and Elections (Guide, 19 July 2019)
• Global State of Democracy: Exploring Democracy’s Resilience (Report, 8 November 2017) 
• Democracy and Resilience Conceptual Approaches and Considerations (Background Paper, 2017)

Contact 

For additional information about the project please contact International IDEA via: protecting.election@idea.int