On February 24-26, the Central Election Commission (CEC) hosted the annual meeting of the Election Management Bodies in Batumi. The theme of the event was Inclusive Elections.

Tamar Zhvania, Chairperson of the CEC, Matt Gokhool, Chief Executive of the International Center for Parliamentary Studies (ICPS) and Niels Scott, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative made opening remarks at the 5th Annual Event.

The meeting participants shared the experiences, challenges and approaches they have utilized while making the election process available to everyone including groups with special needs, ethnical, religious and other minorities, women, etc.

The annual meetings supported communication and foster cooperation amongst participating Election Management Bodies.

A presentation of International Association of Election Training Center was held at the meeting as well. Establishment of Association was initialized by the CEC of Georgia and its Training Center in cooperation with the ICPS. At the meeting, the memorandum of mutual cooperation was signed aiming at supporting the development of the association. Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary of Mexico and Permanent Electoral Authority of Romania have also joined the Memorandum.

Representatives of 19 election management bodies and various international non-governmental organizations were participating in the event (please see the list below).

The meeting was organized in close cooperation with the International Center for Parliamentary Studies (ICPS).

The list of participating countries and organizations:

The election management bodies from the following countries were participating in the event: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Albania, Belarus, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, India, Kenya, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Moldova, Nepal, Romania, South Africa, Ukraine.

As well as the following international organizations: International Centre for Parliamentary Studies (ICPS), National Democratic Institute (NDI), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Council of Europe (CoE), International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), International Republican Institute (IRI), Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe - Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR), Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD), Association of European Election Officials (ACEEEO), European Centre for Electoral Support (ECES).

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