The beginning of the AEGEE Election Observation project dates back to Agora Zaragoza when Project Manager Thomas Leszke (AEGEE-Köln) and former member Alin-Florin Calin (AEGEE-Manchester) organised a meeting to reestablish the Election Observation in AEGEE. They were joined by a group of interested people who established the first team, working already before the ratification in Autumn Agora Cagliari. In almost four years, the project developed towards a more professional approach and organised dozens of observations all around Europe, engaging hundreds of young people in the democratic processes. We spoke with Marije Arentze, the External Relations Manager, to understand better their next plans after closing the first part of the project in Autumn Agora Chisinau, starting a new phase. 

The AEGEEan: Please, introduce your project.

Marije: AEGEE Election Observation provides a youth perspective on elections in Europe. We do this by deploying young people on election observation missions to specifically assess youth engagement. This is important because young people are underrepresented in elections across Europe. We want to understand why.

We train and deploy those who are best-placed to assess youth engagement: young people themselves. Our observers undertake research prior to deployment, and collect vital on-the-ground information on youth participation.

Autumn Agora Cagliari – Autumn Agora Chisinau. How have the past two years been for your project? How did you change?

We have changed dramatically over the course of the past two years. Of the team that signed the contract in Cagliari, only three people are left: Thomas Leszke, Julia Krebs and me. We were joined by thirteen new team members from all over the continent, who all bring a unique and invaluable contribution to the team; they each have a background in election observation, youth participation, or the fields they are active in.

Our professionalism improved drastically. Since Agora Cagliari, in November 2014, we have organised nine Election Observation Missions, each one more advanced than the previous. We introduced the Mission Coordinators; during our Open Calls we usually get excellent applications from people who are a very valuable contribution to our project. We completely revised our research practice; all observers now have specific research tasks prior to the mission, which greatly improves our Final Reports. We are a long way down the road in developing our distinctive methodology to observe youth participation in elections, which would make us the first authority in the world on youth election observation. We have discovered our purpose, what makes us stand out in the field of election observation, and are all extremely committed to this.

What are the highlights of the first cycle?

Apart of the thirteen missions we organised, we held a very successful Erasmus+ sponsored training course in Köln and we had some amazingly inspiring team meetings. As a highlight for us all, I would mention the team meeting we had in Warszawa in January 2016. For the entire weekend we were hosted in the premises of OSCE/ODIHR, the world’s leading authority on election observation, and got to meet with their elections department, who gave us tons of inspiration.

What is the thing you are most proud of?
For me personally, what makes me most proud is the fact that we are doing something completely new: of all the international organisations that practice election observation, we are the only one who is focusing on youth. We are pioneering, setting a standard, doing something no one has done before. This is absolutely thrilling to be part of, especially with a team of such dedicated young professionals.

What is the impact that you think you had in youngster and the societies where you operated?

Our project teaches young people what democracy is so much more than crossing a ballot every four years. It shows them from up close that democracy is a system of government that requires the participation of everyone. Our presence in several European countries has helped young citizens to think critically about their own system of government and their place in this world.

Why did you decide to start a second cycle?
We are not “starting a second cycle”, but rather continuing what we were doing, with the same team and the same plans. This is because we are not quite done yet with our work and we are all convinced that the potential of this project lies far beyond a two-year cycle. Stopping now would feel very unnatural and like a waste of something truly beautiful. We decided to prolong the contract and use this year to lay the foundations and make the necessary arrangements to be able to found a separate NGO in the future.

What do you expect?

I expect our two December missions, to Romania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, to be no less than amazing. The work of our six Mission Coordinators, who all new to the project, is already very promising.

We are presently seeking to expand our funding base in order to accelerate our progress to understanding the under-representation of young people in electoral processes. We are piloting some new concepts in 2016, and plan to make big steps toward founding our NGO.

What are you planning for the upcoming year?

Apart from the two missions in December, we plan to organise around six missions in 2017. We have decided to go to the elections in The Netherlands, France and Albania. We aim for a new edition of our Erasmus+ training course, and we plan to take some big steps in terms of methodology and partnerships.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

Spring Agora Bergamo 2016 is one week away, and last-minute preparations are in progress. The Agora Booklet has been released, and Progress Meetings are on the agenda as always. We will try to look a little bit closer on the Progress Meetings, that are taking place on the second day of the Agora.

On the afternoon of the 19th of May, from 16.15 to the 17.45, three Progress Meetings will take place: regarding the network update, democracy in AEGEE and the thematic backbone of AEGEE.

Network Update will be a progress meeting, that will be held by Maryana Semenyak, member of the Comité Directeur, and by the Network Commission. Like at every Agora, the ones present will be informed about the Network Status Changes, the motivations regarding the decision of downgrade or deletion and all the actions taken to support the Antennae and/or the Contact Antennae. A representative of the Contact Antennae or the Antennae will have the opportunity to be heard and share their point of view. Each case is individual and every one will be presented to the audience. If an objection will be arisen, the simple majority has to ratify the downgrade or deletion of the Antennae or Contact Antennae.

At the same time, the progress meeting about Democracy in AEGEE will have Thomas Leszke from Election Observation Project as a moderator. According to Statutes, Article 2, AEGEE strives “for a democratic, diverse and borderless Europe”. We can all agree, that Europe is diverse and it’s borderless, but  we are still wondering and debating all the time regarding the democracy. For this reason, The Election Observation Project invites the participants of the Agora to reflect on the democratic practices in AEGEE and search for different approaches to improve the standards.

The last progress meeting on the 19th will be on The Thematic Backbone of AEGEE. Over the last years, the association has developed a lot of projects and thematic work, that had an impact on the society that we live in and also has been “raising active and aware citizens”. The learning and development opportunities, that AEGEE has to offer everyone, are endless, and by participating in this session you can learn about it and also about the improvements, that you can make in your community as an AEGEE member.

Here you can find the Workshops and Progress Meetings booklet.

Written by Raluca Radu, AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca

Not so long ago the Elections Observation Project (EOP) of AEGEE, which aims at training potential election observers and creating a sufficient capacity within AEGEE for international election observation missions, brought forward the initiative to be more involved in the recent European Parliament elections besides voting. This involvement in the elections got translated in becoming a volunteer, member of the pooling station commission, or in any other way being a part of the organisational process of the European elections. Hence, several AEGEE members were taken by this idea and now would like to reflect on their experience and share it with the whole network.

Gratitude from the Central Election Commission of Latvia for volunteering at the EP2014

I was a volunteer at the election station in Riga on the 24^thof May. Despite the wonderful weather which made that Saturday very tempting for paying a visit to the beach, I spent the entire day in the polling station meeting Latvians who decided to do their civic duty and vote on Latvia’s representation in the EU for the upcoming five years. Checking voters’ passports and IDs, making necessary notes in the voters’ list, welcoming the media and observers of the overall election process were among my responsibilities. The highlight of her day probably was meeting one of the most prominent voters – the former president of Latvia – Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga. According to my observations she spent quite a long time in the voting booth carefully scrutinising candidate lists. Mrs Freiberga had a substantial input in the country’s accession to the EU, therefore the former president must have been very cautious choosing eight Latvian faces that will soon be seen in the next European Parliament. Another positive observation suggests that youth, middle-age and elderly people’s participation in the elections was more or less equal in that particular polling station. I also met several confused and puzzled first-time voters, as well as few non-Latvian EU voters who confidently came to do what they are entitled to. Overall, the turnout in the polling station I was volunteering in was one of the highest in Riga (and actually slightly beat the EU average).

Tomasz Kowalski voting

By the end of the election-day, I also counted ballot papers and followed the electronic vote counting procedure, which allowed me and my colleagues from the election commission to finish the day earlier than it would have been in the case of manual vote counting. After the elections I must admits that working 7 am-11 pm was exhausting, but the experience was certainly worth it. Next time, for the Parliamentary elections taking place in October I will try to become a member of the polling station commission.

Tomasz Kowalski (AEGEE-Gdańsk) was the chairman of the election commission in a tiny Polish district. Being in such a responsible position he was in charge of various tasks: managing a team of six people, handling bureaucratic issues and filling in the papers, taking care of the overall voting process, as well as managing the vote counting procedure and reporting election results to the City Council. It was 2am when Tomasz took a sigh of relief, when his working day was finally over. According to Tomasz’ observations, youth participation in the elections was terribly low in his district.  “Sometimes I feel that only older people feel the need to vote, younger people don’t care about such things at all. It is really sad. Personally I’m in favour of a compulsory voting system, but Poles are not prepared for this”, he said.  Therefore, he thinks that Poles still need to learn the rights and responsibilities democracy brings.

Youth after casting vote for EP2014 in Riga, Latvia

Sadly, Tomasz had to admit that it looked like his co-citizens do not appreciate the fact that Poland has been independent and free for nearly 25 years and it has made an enormous step forward since then. “I hope that one day we will reach the normal voting attendance.”

In Germany, seven AEGEEans, as well as non-AEGEEans, were involved in the election process in Koln. For instance, Sophie Schwab (not a member of AEGEE) was quite disappointed by her experience, since she only counted envelopes and ballot papers, therefore she did not feel the real civic spirit of democratic participation. For others it must have been a different experience – various lessons learnt and conclusions made.

The EOP is proud of our members’ commitment for the European elections 2014 regardless of the level and outcomes of their involvement. The project will continue strengthening its efforts in engaging AEGEE members in election processes since we already saw the success of our endeavors.

Written by Diana Ondža, AEGEE-Riga