30/01/2026 Election observation
The Parliamentary Alliance for Free and Fair Elections, which groups over 70 PACE members, has set out new ways to make election observation efforts “sharper and more practical” in the face of acute polarization, foreign interference, large-scale disinformation, cyber incidents, opaque financing and late legal changes.
A year on from its launch, the Alliance – meeting on the margins of the PACE winter session in Strasbourg – endorsed a set of strategic priorities laid out last year by its chair Lord Blencathra.
They include deeper pre-electoral scrutiny, a new checklist of practical indicators for assessing democratic practice, fresh ways to asses out-of-country voting, more focus on countering AI threats, a new toolkit to keep observers safe, and better implementation of recommendations.
“In a year when elections face polarisation, foreign interference and AI-enabled manipulation, our response must be earlier, sharper and more practical,” said the Alliance’s Vice-Chair Didier Marie. “For 2026, the Alliance is focusing on pre-electoral scrutiny, safer observation, and stronger follow-up, so our standards translate into real democratic resilience.”
Participants also looked again at how to tackle elections in times of crisis, building on a resolution adopted this week at PACE based on a report by Damien Cottier (Switzerland, ALDE). The Assembly should consider observing elections beyond the ten countries currently under its monitoring procedure, Mr Cottier said, “because we can all learn from each other to be more resilient”.
Finally, the meeting heard from the Executive Director of Slovak NGO MEMO 98 Rast’o Kužel on how political polarisation is changing election observation: “Polarisation has intensified in recent years, fundamentally changing how elections are perceived. Even well-run processes can be rejected, while flawed ones may be rhetorically validated. In this context, credible and independent election observation is more necessary than ever.”
