NEXT FORUM DUE IN YEREVAN

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08:17 pm | October 21, 2009

Politics

A forum entitled "Electoral systems: strenghtening democracy in the
21st century" kicked off in Kyiv, Ukraine, minutes ago. It is the
forth forum organised by the Council of Europe which features 400
participants from the Council of Europe’s 47 member states.

In his opening speech, the Council of Europe’s newly elected Secretary
General, Thorbjørn Jagland stressed that free and transparent
elections are a vital feature of democracy. , its key element. He
highlighted the role of mass media in this respect.

The forum will discuss issues related to electoral systems.

Samuel Žbogar, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia and Chair of
the Committee of Ministers, noted that an exchange of experience is
the most important component of the forum.

Remind that the Ukraine is on the eve of presidential elections but
none of the reporters underlined the conduct of a free, fair and
transparent election in the country.

David Harutiunian, Head of the Armenian delegation to the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and Ambassador Zohrab
Mnatsakanian, Armenia’s permanent representative in the Council of
Europe, are among the Armenian delegates.

Forum for the 2010 Forum for the Future of Democracy is due in Yerevan,
Armenia.

Opening Speech by Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council
of Europe

Genuine democracy requires capacity, opportunity and motivation.

It requires capacity because people must be capable of making informed
choices. They must be able to receive information and form their
opinions without undue interference and influence.

It requires regular opportunities to exercise such informed choices
under free and fair conditions.

And finally, it requires motivation to do so.

Somehow paradoxically, in yesterday’s Europe, there were many people
who wanted to vote, but who were not allowed to vote. In today’s
Europe, there is a growing number of people who have the opportunity
to vote, but refuse to do so.

This, as I understand it, was one of the main reasons which led the
Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe to launch the
Forum for the Future of Democracy, which is meeting here in Kyiv at
its 5th session. I should like to use this opportunity to thank the
Ukrainian authorities and especially President Yuschenko, who will
formally open this session in just a few minutes, for the effort
invested in the preparation.

But if I may return to my introductory thought. Many people in European
countries which have joined the Council of Europe since 1989 have
become disappointed with political institutions because their hopes
and expectations from democratic reforms may have been too impatient
and too ambitious. Political freedom, when it came, did not immediately
translate into greater security, a better income and a better life.

But it is not the only reason for the growing disillusion among voters
in Europe. Electoral turnouts are decreasing in many countries,
both in those with longer and in those with shorter democratic
experience alike.

So the problems we face, the problems because of which this Forum was
set up, cannot be solved by lowering the expectations of the voters.

They will have to be resolved through greater accountability and
higher trust in political institutions, processes and personalities.

These are the challenges at which this Session, and the previous
Sessions of the Forum have been looking.

Here in Kyiv, we will be looking at electoral systems and try to
identify measures to ensure that elections, as the most important
mechanism of public accountability, remain effective, trustworthy
and widely used.

We all know that free and fair elections are a vital feature of
democracy. They ensure the selection of political leadership based
on the will of the people and they are a key element in holding
the political leadership accountable for its performance. For this
to happen, the elections must be universal, equal, free, secret
and direct. They must be accompanied by respect for fundamental
freedoms guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights, the
organisation of the election by an impartial body and the availability
of an effective appeal system.

And we all know that there is still some way to go before these
general principles for democratic elections are fully accepted and
respected everywhere in Europe.

What a genuinely functioning democracy also requires is a democratic
culture, and democratic culture takes years to grow. It is normal that
some countries with more recent democratic experience will encounter
more difficulties and they are entitled to and will receive our help.

But this being said, we should not and we will not tolerate that
a shorter democratic gravitation is used as an excuse to ignore
democratic standards, just as well as we should not and will not
tolerate that long-standing democracies consider themselves immune
from any criticism or advice.

The fact is that some of the most critical issues this Forum will
tackle, such as the freedom to receive and impart information, the
independence of the media and the role of new information technologies
in relation to elections, affect each and every member states of the
Council of Europe.

We should also critically assess what is the scope of action
for international organisations such as the Council of Europe in
improving electoral standards across Europe and beyond. We should
not satisfy ourselves with good ideas, we need good results. The
Council of Europe should not be only a think tank, it should be a
work horse for democracy in Europe. A good example is offered by the
"Code of Good Practice of Civil Participation", which the Conference
of International Non-Governmental Organisations has adopted a few
weeks ago in response to the conclusions of the Forum in 2007. What
remains now is to make sure that the Code is implemented and also to
evaluate what impact it will have in practice.

This is a general principle which I will follow as the Secretary
General of the Council of Europe. In this particular case, we have ways
to measure our influence, for example through the trends in voters’
participation. It does not mean that we should claim the credit –
or accept the blame – if turnouts in the next elections across Europe
go up or down. There are many factors which come to play in deciding
these trends, but we must strive to be one of them.

What we do must be relevant, must be effective, and must make a
difference.

Thank you very much.