On September 18, 19 and 20, 2019, the Meeting of Electoral Bodies and Democracy Studies took place in the building of the Electoral Court in Panama City, with the participation of countries from Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and Europe. The event focused on the topic "Election Bodies and Academic Research as Opportunities to Address the Challenges for Elections in the 21st Century". In this context, the aim of the conference was to examine the contribution that academic research can make in order to achieve a more representative decision-making by voters and in regards to the development of public legislation in the electoral field. The meeting, which took place under Latin American chairmanship, aimed at an exchange of knowledge between electoral bodies worldwide, with representatives from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Zambia, Spain and Germany.
On September 18th, the event was opened with a speech by the presiding judge of the Electoral Court of Panama, Heriberto Arauz Sanchez. He thanked the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation for its cooperation in this important event and for the support of the International Institute for Democracy & Electoral Assistance (IDEA) and the United Nations Development Programme in Panama (UNDP). The Chairman also stressed the importance of academic debate as a reflective and critical academic community contributes to the strengthening of democracy. The Institute for Democracy Studies founded by the Electoral Court in Panama had therefore been created to develop solutions that take into account the interests of both citizens and the state. Winfried Weck, Director of the Regional Program ADELA and Office Director of the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation in Panama, emphasized in his speech the interest of the foundation in the development of strong democratic institutions, which are able to initiate reforms in governance and can promote the active participation of citizens. In this regard, he also presented the new regional programme "Alliances for Democracy and Development with Latin America", through which the meeting of electoral bodies and democracy studies had been organized. Miguel Angel Lara Otaola, Head of the Office for International Relations in Mexico and Central America, and Aleida Ferreyra, representative of UNDP, also expressed their gratitude to all the electoral bodies participating in the event. They furthermore acknowledged the importance of the exchange of knowledge between institutions and their search for solutions towards current challenges to democracy.
During the three-day conference, the aim was to promote the exchange of knowledge and experience on the new challenges facing democracies in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and Europe. To this end, representatives of electoral bodies in Latin America and the Caribbean discussed their personal experiences with local, regional and global processes in the management, generation, production and implementation of technical and scientific knowledge in the electoral field. In addition, the debate was complemented by a dialogue with representatives of partner organizations and specialists from Asia, Africa and Europe. A highlight of the event was the keynote lecture "The challenges for the democracies of the 21st century, especially for electoral legislation" by Dr. Salvador Romero, former president of the National Electoral Court of Bolivia. Of particular importance were also the words of Prof. Dr. Norbert Lammert, Chairman of the Board of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and former President of the German Bundestag. In his speech, Prof. Dr. Lammert pointed out in what way democracies today differ from each other despite many commonalities. Among these characteristics he counted a broad party landscape as a mirror of a diverse society, the handling of democratic issues as well as the transparent access of citizens to information about representatives of the state. Furthermore, Dr. Prof. Lammert presented how international cooperation can support democratic institutions in election processes and promote the exchange of knowledge between citizens. Finally, he explained how information technologies (ICT) can enable users to inform themselves and make more conscious decisions. In this respect, he called on the participants of the event to consider how citizens can be encouraged to make greater use of these tools.
The exchange of experience and knowledge was concluded with the lecture "The dynamic significance of today's politics. Special consideration in relation to the performance of electoral bodies." by Dr. Manuel Alcántara, researcher at the Ibero-American Institute in Salamanca. Dr. Alcantara presented a dissertation on the concept of politics, the current changes in areas such as technology, society or the economy, as well as their significance and their effects on politics and democracy. At the same time, he presented possible approaches for electoral bodies to deal with these new challenges.
A summary of the meeting of the electoral bodies and democracy studies can be found on the Youtube channel of the Electoral Court of Panama:
Opening event 18.09.2019:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usAB92cygNo&t=5436s
First conference day 19.09.2019:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fexePP600tY&t=7122s
Second conference day and conclusion of the event 20.09.2019:
