ACEEEO to focus on youth participation, campaign, party finance

Youth participation in electoral processes, as well as campaign and party finance are the themes of the 30th Annual Conference of the Association of European Election Officials (ACEEEO).

The conference opened on Wednesday in Bucharest, bringing together election experts and officials from several international election management bodies, the Romanian Permanent Electoral Authority (AEP) said in a statement on Wednesday, agerpres reports.

"The events organised on the 30th anniversary of ACEEEO will give us the chance to work together and build a stronger network, which allows us to steer the international agenda towards impactful issues: youth participation in the electoral processes and getting a clear picture of public funding for election campaigns and political parties. I hope we will be able to fully understand the depth of these issues and have fruitful discussions that will change the way we develop our future strategies," AEP Chairman Constantin Florin Mituletu-Buica is quoted as saying in opening remarks.

The meeting takes place in a hybrid format, with 45 international participants attending the event in person in Bucharest and approximately 70 guests joining the event virtually.

They represent prestigious election bodies, such as the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE /ODIHR), the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe (CoE), International IDEA, the Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB), the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), the National Election Institute of Mexico (INE Mexico), and the Central Electoral Commission of Moldova (CEC Moldova), according to AEP.

The participants will discuss the part of state officials in educating and getting the youth to participate in electoral processes and conduct a comparative analysis of how campaign and party financing is regulated.