Over the past months, the spread of COVID-19 has led many electoral management bodies (EMBs) in Europe and across the world to postpone elections to a later date. This period has also seen many governments and EMBs consider new or scaling up existing special voting arrangements such as early, postal and mobile voting in order to avoid crowded polling stations on an election day.  

Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) play a critical role in furthering sustainable democratic development in any country. The CSOs have for decades been important partners for International IDEA at global, regional and country levels.  

Mongolia’s parliamentary elections look set to take place on 24 June 2020. Known for its long and harsh winters, there’s no better season to hold an election in the Land of the Blue Sky—COVID-19 or not. Despite of the President calling for a postponement in the early stages of the pandemic citing cost-saving motivations, the Parliament and the General Elections Committee (GEC) ventured on. The experience of nearby Republic of Korea in conducting their mid-April elections, albeit with huge caveats, served as encouragement.

International IDEA's Senior Programme Manager for Asia & the Pacific, Adhy Aman, in a webinar with an Indonesian audience organized by the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) on Monday, 6 April 2020, suggested the need for alternative methods of elections to be considered during the COVID-19 crisis, in addition to considering alternative dates for the postponed or suspended elections.

International IDEA together with our implementing Partner, Dialogue Fiji, held a “Talanoa with the Minister” webinar, on Friday 5 June 2020, under the “Upholding Citizens’ Constitutional Rights for Democratic Consolidation in Fiji” project (C3- Fiji Project) which is part of the activity “Public meetings between citizens and MPs at local level”.

Online voting has never faced a situation as favorable as today. Amid the current COVID-19 pandemic, online voting is increasingly becoming the most logical solution for all types of elections. At the national and local level, the speed of innovation in special voting arrangements is unprecedented.

The country is destined for more political turbulence – whatever line the Constitutional Court takes on the President’s attempt to form a new government.

This Commentary was originally published by BIRN’s English language website Balkan Insight.