Andreas Kiefer: “Election observation allows for the reinforcement of territorial self-government in Europe”

According to Andreas Kiefer, Secretary General of the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, regular follow-up of local and regional elections allows for truly democratic elections and reinforces territorial self-government across Europe. In an interview, he presents the main aspects of the Congress reform relative to its observation of local and regional elections.   In particular, this plans to widen the observation process by offering national authorities post-electoral support.

Interview – 29 July 2010

Question: Election observation constitutes one of the Congress’ priorities for the coming years. From the Secretariat’s point of view, what are the concrete steps required?

Andreas Kiefer: The first step will be to implement our political strategy for election observation which will allow the Congress to widen the scope of its mission. This means that not only occurrences on election day are being evaluated but the context of the entire election process – including political, legal and media conditions. Moreover, the Congress has to guarantee the funding and staffing for the organisational aspects of election observation. Finally, we are exploring new ways of increasing the impact of our work in this field notably thanks to closer collaboration with partner institutions within the Council of Europe and outside, in particular, with OSCE/ODIHR.

Question: What are the major objectives the Congress wants to achieve by observing local and regional elections?

Andreas Kiefer: Election observation is certainly an important mechanism for international organisations to assess the situation of democracy in a given country, in a broader sense.  By highlighting possible irregularities and by providing reports and recommendations for improvement, the Congress contributes to enhancing the integrity of electoral processes in Council of Europe member countries. It is a specific form of political monitoring aimed at getting a full picture of the democratic development at local and regional level, in order to strengthen territorial self-government which constitutes the “raison d’être” of the Congress.

Question: What do you see as the main thematic focus of Congress election observation?

Andreas Kiefer: Since 1990, the Congress has carried out almost 100 election observation missions and provided many reports and recommendations to member countries. We are now shifting the focus a little to ensure better follow-up procedures of our missions. For example, we would like to organise specific co-operation targetted assistance programmes with the member states concerned. In this way, the Congress will provide the authorities with its expertise when addressing the major issues detected during a given observation mission. The aim is to increase know-how, understanding and the capacity to organise genuine democratic elections at local and regional level throughout Europe.