ODIHR hosts seminar on increasing the accuracy of voter registers

Harmonizing population and voter-registration systems in OSCE participating States, including efficient data-sharing mechanisms in compiling accurate voter lists, is being discussed at a seminar organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Warsaw on 31 August and 1 September 2011.

 “In many OSCE participating States, political discourse, including demands by civil society and the general public, focuses on the need to increase the accuracy of voter lists and consequently ensure overall confidence in the election process,” Douglas Wake, First Deputy Director of ODIHR, said at the opening of the seminar, entitled, “Synergies between Voter and Population Registration Systems”.

Participants will discuss good practices from those participating States in which population-registration systems are in place, focusing on ways of maximizing co-operation between election and population-registration officials to increase the accuracy of voter lists.

The meeting brings together 60 participants, including election and population-registration officials from 16 OSCE participating States, representatives of nine OSCE field operations and expert representatives from the International Foundation of Electoral Systems, the United Nations Development Programme and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.

This seminar is part of ODIHR’s ongoing assistance to OSCE participating States to ensure follow-up on ODIHR election observation mission recommendations by building the capacity of authorities to implement and reform voter and population-registration systems.