Elections on Rewind: Democracy on Fast Forward

Last week, the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD) , a group of leading democracy promotion organisations, including the Kofi Annan Foundation , met in Brussels to reflect on the state of democracy in the world today and what can be done to improve it. Kofi Annan Foundation Senior Advisor Sébastien F.W. Brack summarises the reflections following the conference.

"I want to thank the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD) for helping me deliver important instruments like the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act, and the European Media Freedom Act, which help safeguard our democracy," said Věra Jourová, the outgoing Vice-President of the European Commission , at the close of the annual EPD conference this year, Elections on Rewind: Democracy on Fast Forward.

This raft of European Union (EU) digital measures seems to have largely succeeded in averting the much-feared digital interference in the European elections of early June, opined Armin Rabitsch of Election-Watch.EU , which deployed observers to all 27 member states.?

The Kofi Annan Foundation has found that many other democracies around the world are looking to the EU's pathbreaking way of combining regulation with freedom of speech online for inspiration in this global challenge in the digital age.

It was only one of many recent democracy bright spots raised at the conference, such as South Africa's, India's and Senegal's recent polls, which underlined both the universality of democratic aspirations and the power of elections to usher in political change peacefully.

This is all the more critical, stressed Michael Meyer , the founder of Democracy Reporting International , since the democracy community has been disseminating a disempowering message over the past few years in the face of over a decade of democratic backsliding worldwide. Yes, the general trend is negative, but there are many counter-examples that must be applauded and showcased to mobilise voters and democrats everywhere.

"We must cherish, reform and defend democracy, or else it may be lost for future generations." - Kofi Annan

A small window of opportunity

Research by Varieties of Democ@ (V-Dem) shows that bounce-backs have frequently happened thanks to elections, such as in Zambia or Poland. However, autocratisation occurs much faster than democratisation, so there is only a small window of opportunity for support by the international community at the first signs of authoritarian drift to try to nip it in the bud.?

"...autocratisation happens much faster than democratisation, so there is only a small window of opportunity for support by the international community at the first signs of authoritarian drift to try to nip it in the bud."

Funding shifting to other priorities

As democracy continues to decline and its enemies ramp up funding for disinformation and their anti-democratic allies, traditional European donor countries are shifting funding to other priorities, such as defence, migration, and the "Global Gateway," an ambitious 300 billion euro fund largely dedicated to infrastructure development in middle-income countries of the "Global South."

Participants suggested that democracy promotion could and should be part of the new priority areas since research has shown that democracy reduces belligerence, mitigates migration push factors, and can check corruption, a well-established side effect of large-scale infrastructure projects.

Can private philanthropic organisations fill the gap?

As traditional donors redirect funding away from democracy defence and promotion, private philanthropic organisations are helping to fill the gap. Kofi Annan Foundation Executive Director Corinne Momal-Vanian moderated a plenary discussion with two actors in this space—Civitates and the European Network of Foundations—to tease out their priorities and modus operandi.

Private philanthropic organisations cannot mobilise the same kinds of budgets as states or intergovernmental organisations like the EU, but they can often compensate by being faster, more flexible, and less bureaucratic than their public sector peers. A mix of private and public sources is probably best, concluded Mrs Momal-Vanian.

Electoral Observation

Electoral observation has emerged as a major sector since the reintroduction and widespread adoption of multi-party elections in the wake of the Cold War as a means of increasing their professionalism, integrity, and trustworthiness. But participants, including Neal McCall, the head of the EU's elections division, regretted the growing resistance to external observers in many countries.

Experience has shown that a combination of international and domestic observers, parallel voting tabulation (PVT) by opposition parties and/or civil society and regional leaders ready to apply pressure can help avoid manipulation of results by incumbent parties that often control the state apparatus and public media.?

Democracy at risk in the EU

Most of the organisations attending the EPD conference work outside the EU, but one of the sessions, "EU's democracy blind spots," highlighted that democracy is increasingly at risk within the EU as well.

Sophie Int Veld, a member of the European Parliament (MEP) for twenty years, stressed that while the focus is on the recent rise of the far right in Europe, the real danger is the erosion of democratic norms already in place. She opined that democratic guardrails are weakening at a time when the EU is accruing unprecedented power. She regretted that the European Parliament has not been holding the Commission and the Council sufficiently to account.

Professor Alberto Allemano deplored the disconnect between the European elections that have just taken place and the likely nominations to the top jobs in the institutions, which have already been negotiated between member states, or the policies the EU is likely to pursue over the next five years. "Council priorities will determine policy far more than the European elections," he regretted.

The same coalition of parties (PPE, S&D, Renew) that dominated Brussels for the past five years is likely to reform its alliance to ensure its choice of leaders, ignoring the clear signal sent by the electorate in favour of a rightward turn.?In fact, the old alliance may even bring in the Greens, which just got trounced, to make up the numbers needed to secure a majority.

The quality and reputation of the EU's democracy is a key to its credibility as an agent of democratisation around the world at a time when democracy is increasingly contested, and even attacked, by its enemies. ?

As Kofi Annan said, "We must cherish, reform and defend democracy, or else it may be lost for future generations."

Sébastien F.W. Brack is Senior Advisor and EU Representative for the Kofi Annan Foundation.

Learn more about how the Kofi Annan Foundation promotes and defends democracy: https://www.kofiannanfoundation.org/elections-democracy/

Learn more about the European Partnership for Democracy: https://epd.eu/