In effect, do we elect?

OPENING REMARKS

POZDRAVNA  REČ

Vukosava Crnjanski 

Director, CRTA

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KEYNOTE

UVODNO IZLAGANJE

Svetlana Slapšak

Literary Historian, Anthropologist, Classical Philologist, and Writer (Slovenia)

As she wonders in an article who is voting for an authoritarian, Svetlana Slapšak promptly provides the answer – those who would always vote like that plus those captured by the capillary dictatorship and debts. She can help us understand the meaning of ancient ostracism nowadays in view of the “capillary networking of party, economy and criminality”?

Through decades filled with her astonishing creative and academic accomplishments, Svetlana Slapšak has always been and still is a role model of intellectual honesty and fearless activism, and as such is a right person to break ground for thoughts on how to protect democracy and sovereignty of citizens.

Ko glasa za autoritarce, pita se Svetlana Slapšak u jednom članku i odmah daje odgovor – oni koji bi uvek tako glasali, plus uhvaćeni u kapilarnu diktaturu i dugove. Svetlana Slapšak nam može pomoći da bolje razumemo značenje drevnog ostrakizma danas, u svetlu “kapilarnog povezivanja partije, ekonomije i kriminala”. 

Kroz decenije ispunjene izuzetnim kreativnim i akademskim postignućima, bila je i ostala uzor intelektualnog poštenja i aktivističke hrabrosti – svakako ličnost koja može da nam otvori polje za razmišljanja o načinima borbe za demokratiju i suverenitet građana. 

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Super Election Year: Around 3.7 billion people are voting in 2024. Are these numbers bearing more fear or hope?

Superizborna godina; oko 3,7 milijardi ljudi glasa 2024. godine. Da li taj broj izaziva strah ili daje nadu?

What have we learned so far from this election year? Were there any surprises, and what are the expectations for the peak of the dynamic electoral season? How can outcomes of the exciting and uncertain races in “big” countries affect the situation in the countries where elections, for various reasons, are not making any change for a very long time now?

From a global perspective, is democracy winning or losing this “Super Bowl”? Some of the 2024 elections are free and fair, many not. Such a number of ballot box battles, occurring more or less at once, may further destabilize an unstable world – for good or bad? And, what to say from a local, Serbian standpoint?

Šta smo zasad naučili od ove izborne godine? Da li je bilo iznenađenja i šta da očekujemo od kulminacije dinamične izborne sezone? Kako će ishodi uzbudljivih i neizvesnih trka u “velikim” zemljama uticati na situaciju u državama gde izbori, iz svakojakih razloga, ne donose promene već dosta dugo?

Globalno posmatrano, da li demokratija gubi ili dobija ovaj “Super Bowl”? Neki od ovogodišnjih izbora su slobodni i pošteni, ali mnogi i nisu takvi. Sve te bitke na biralištima koje se odvijaju manje-više istovremeno mogu da promene prilike  u nestabilnom svetu. Da li će ga učiniti boljim ili gorim?

Ivana Dragičević

Foreign Affairs Commentator, N1 News Channel

Boško Jakšić

Foreign Affairs Commentator of Politika Daily

Zselyke Csaky

Senior Research Fellow, Centre for European Reform (online)

Agon Maliqi

Political Analyst and Writer

Moderation: 

Jovana Djurbabić

Communication Director, CRTA

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KEYNOTE

GLAVNI GOVORNIK

Alexander Cherkasov

Board Member, Memorial Human Rights Defence Centre (Russia)

As one of the most prominent peace and human rights activists, Alexander Cherkasov is a crucial witness to the process of Russia’s declining into a new form of dictatorship, ironically legitimized through multiparty elections. Seeing the history of post-Soviet Russia as “a chain of wars, crimes and impunity”, Cherkasov appeals for “revaluing democratic values in order to find where the road to democracy is”

Kao istaknuti mirovni aktivista i borac za ljudska prava, Aleksandar Čerkasov je krunski svedok pada Rusije u novi oblik diktature, koji je obojen ironijom pozivanja na legitimitet koji daju višepartijski izbori. Posmatrajući istoriju postsovjetske Rusije kao “lanac ratova, zločina i nekažnjivosti”, Čerkasov traži da “ponovo promislimo demokratske vrednosti kako bismo pronašli put ka demokratiji”. 

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Democracy is a system in which parties lose elections. In electoral authoritarianism opposition parties lose elections

The ongoing story of elections speaks as much about authoritarian manipulations as it does about democratic triumphs. Electoral authoritarian regimes are keen to reap the fruits of electoral legitimacy without running the risks of democratic uncertainty. They neither practice democracy nor resort regularly to blatant repression.

How to see through misleading labels and to challenge new forms of authoritarianism that do not fit into classic categories of one-party, military, or personal dictatorship?

Demokratija je sistem u kome stranke gube izbore. U izbornom autoritarizmu samo opozicione stranke gube izbore.

Izbori u savremenom svetu su priča o manipulacijama autoritaraca, bar u istoj meri koliko i o demokratskim trijumfima. Režimi izborne autokratije vole da beru plodove izbornog legitimiteta bez izlaganja neizvesnosti koju demokratija nosi. Oni ne praktikuju demokratsku politiku, ali ni ne pribegavaju najočiglednijoj represiji. 

Kako prevazići zbunjujuće etikete i suprotstaviti se novim vidovima autoritarizma koji se ne uklapaju u klasične kategorije jednopartijskih, vojnih ili ličnih diktatura?

Panelists:

Zsofia Banuta

Co-Founder of Unhack Democracy

Masaaki Higashijima

Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Tokyo

Michael Angeloni

Research Associate, Protect Democracy

Francesco Ronchi

Administrator at Directorate for Democracy Support of the European Parliament and Adjunct Professor of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University

Moderation:

Tamara Brankovic

Deputy Program Director, CRTA

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Global (dis)information landscape: Is a well-informed voter becoming a mythical creature?

Globalni (dez)informacioni pejzaž; da li je dobro informisani birač mitsko biće?

False narratives and conspiracy theories have evolved into a global menace. In today’s media ecosystem disinformation is undermining trust in democracy and foreign influence campaigns are targeting polarizing domestic issues. Artificial intelligence has boosted the disinformation engine and twisted perceptions of reality.

How is the idea of a well-informed citizen deciding freely, which is fundamental for democratic elections, to fit into such a picture? Is quality journalism irreversibly becoming history? Is democracy, with all its time-consuming procedures, too slow to keep pace with technology developing at an unimaginable speed?

Svet se davi u lažnim vestima i teorijama zavere. U današnjem medijskom ekosistemu dezinformacije podrivaju poverenje u demokratiju, a maligni strani uticaji podstiču polarizaciju u društvu. Veštačka inteligencija ima moć da sasvim iskrivi percepciju stvarnosti. 

Kako se ideja o dobro informisanim biračima, koja je ključna za demokratske izbore, uklapa u takvu sliku? Da li kvalitetno novinarstvo bespovratno postaje prošlost? Da li je demokratija, sa svim svojim zahtevnim procedurama, suviše spora za tempo kojim joj preti razvoj tehnologije? 

Ana Martinoli

Media Theorist and Professor, Faculty of Dramatic Arts, University of Belgrade

Marko Milosavljević

Professor and Chair of the Communication Department at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana

Mustafa Kuleli

Vice-President of the European Federation of Journalists

Zsófia Fülöp

Independent Journalist, Lakmusz

Moderation: 

Maja Sever

President of the European Federation of Journalists

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Migration and other manipulation; how to prevent election engineering?

Migracije i druge manipulacije; kako sprečiti izborni inženjering?

The Serbian public has faced an extreme manifestation of election engineering in December 2023, when the organized migration of voters was conducted at a scale that has never been documented before. 

“Electoral tourism” is not the only way that regulations and institutions are being misused to scam elections, neither Serbia is the only place where various illegitimate and even illegal activities are being employed to engineer election results.

Javnost u Srbiji suočila se s ekstremnom manifestacijom izbornog inženjeringa u decembru 2023. godine, u vidu organizovanih migracija birača u razmerama kakve ranije nisu zabeležene. “Izborni turizam” nije jedini način na koji se izigravaju pravila i zloupotrebljavaju institucije zarad izborne prevare, niti je Srbija jedino mesto gde se raznim nelegitimnim, pa i nelegalnim sredstvima konstruišu rezultati izbora. 

Cyril Kulenovic

Electoral and Political Expert, Organisation internationale de la Francophonie

Dario Jovanović

Director, Coalition for Free and Fair Elections ”Pod lupom”

Zlatko Vujović

Executive Director, European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations - ENEMO (online)

Zsuzsanna Kunos

Legal Officer, TASZ - Hungarian Civil Liberties

Moderation: 

Vujo Ilić

Assistant Director, Institute of Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade

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Opening of the exhibition dedicated to the history of elections, with the author’s remarks

Otvaranje izložbe Foto kolektiva Kamerades

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Elections home and abroad: diplomatic perspectives

Izbori kod kuće i u inostranstvu: diplomatske perspektive

Serving in different countries, diplomats learn about many specific attributes of electoral processes around the world. Not all elections are exciting in the same way; the question is whether the same criteria can be applied to assessing the quality of elections everywhere.

Tokom službe u razlitičitim zemljama, diplomate uviđaju mnoštvo specifičnosti u vezi s izbornim procesima po svetu. Nisu svi izbori uzbudljivi na isti način; pitanje je mogu li se isti kriterijumi primenjivati u proceni kvaliteta izbora, bez obzira na to gde se održavaju. 

H.E. Ambassador Emanuele Giaufret

European Union Delegation to the Republic of Serbia 

H.E. Ambassador Kristin Melsom

Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway to Serbia 

H.E. Ambassador Edward Ferguson

British Embassy to Serbia

Moderation: 

Vukosava Crnjanski

Director, CRTA

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Political Web Hosting: Culture of Clientelism in the Western Balkans and beyond

Politički klijentelizam; kultura “razmene” na Zapadnom Balkanu i šire

In many countries all over the globe elections are decided by offering favors in the form of money, jobs, and services in exchange for votes. The Western Balkans region is not an exception to a practice that springs “at the crossroads of politics and administration, economy and society”. Broad as it is, the concept of clientelism means “different things to different people”, so this panel is exploring its also a regional meanings and varieties and attempting to conceive a strategy for combating client politics.

Širom sveta, u mnogim zemljama izbori se odvijaju pod uticajem raznih vidova trgovine između partija i birača. Zapadni Balkan svakako nije izuzet iz prakse koja izvire na “raskršću politike, administracije, ekonomije i društva”. Širok kakav jeste, koncept klijentelizma ima “različita značenja za različite ljude”, te se ovaj panel bavi i regionalnim varijacijama i specifičnostima, u pokušaju nalaženja strategije za bobru protiv takve koruptivne politike.

Tsveta Petrova

Professor, Columbia University

Predrag Cvetičanin

Director of the Center for Empirical Cultural Studies of South-East Europe / Professor at the University of Niš

Dragan Stanojević

Assistant Professor, Institute for sociological research, University of Belgrade

Marija Stefanović

Qualitative Research Manager, CRTA 

Moderation: 

Jovan Bliznakovski

Assistant professor, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University

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Building trust: Efficient election administration and safeguarding against manipulation

Izgradnja poverenja; kako do efikasne izborne administracije?

Do we need a new model for organizing the work of election commissions, on national and local level, and polling boards, particularly in terms of the way that they are composed? Currently, members of those bodies are being delegated by the political parties, which in practice may mean that they prioritize their parties’ interests to the public interest. How to help the election administration to overcome problems, such as lack of experts and resources, in order to gain more citizens’’ trust?

Da li je neophodan novi model organizovanja rada izbornih komisija, nacionalne i lokalnih, kao i biračkih odbora, posebno u odnosu na način na koji se određuje njihov sastav? Sada članove tih tela predlažu političke stranke, što u praksi često vodi do toga da partijski interes bude važniji od javnog interesa. Kako da izborna administracija prevaziđe probleme, kao što je nedostatak resursa i stručnih kadrova, kako bi stekla veće poverenje građana? 

Lead Contributors:

Vladimir Dimitrijević

President, Republic Electoral Commission, Serbia

Željko Bakalar

Member, Central Electoral Commission, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Pavel Cabancenco

Senior Regional Election Advisor, IFES

Óscar Sánchez Muñoz Professor, University of Valladolid

Oriana Ivković Novokmet

Executive Director, GONG

Jelena Lončar 

Associate Professor, Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade

Oleksiy Lychkovakh

OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)

Moderation:

David Krstić

Legal Associate, CRTA

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Media in the public interest: Strengthening Public Service for citizens

Mediji i javni interes; kako javni servis služi građanima?

How to empower the public media services to perform the critical role they have in protecting society from polarization and putting the public interest first? In times when disinformation gains a horrifying power, how to have professional and trusted media that will safeguard citizens in times of extreme crisis, such as pandemics and climate threats? If privately owned media outlets don’t provide a balanced picture of an election campaign, is it utopian to believe that the public ones can be a synonym of no bias editorial policy?

Kako osposobiti javni medijski servis za kritičnu ulogu koja mu je namenjena - da društvo štiti od polarizacije i da javni interes uvek stavlja na prvo mesto? U vreme kada dezinformacije dobijaju zastrašujuću moć, kako da obezbedimo funkcionisanje profesionalnog i verodostojnog medija na koji će građani moći da se oslone u uslovima ekstremnih kriza kao što je pandemija ili klimatska pretnja? Ako mediji u privatnom vlasništvu ne pružaju uravnoteženu sliku izborne kampanje, da li je utopijski očekivati da javni servisi budu sinonim za nepristrasnu uređivačku politiku? 

Lead Contributors:

Representative

Radio Television Serbia (TBC)

Aleksandra Niksic 

News editor, BBC Serbian 

Bojana Lekic 

Journalist and former RTS Editor-in-Chief

Hrvoje Zovko

President of Croatian Journalist Association, former HRT news reporter and editor

Moderation:

Stefan Janjić

Assistant professor, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad 

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Strengthening democracy by guarding the vote: Exchange of experiences and tools among citizens' observation missions

Zaštita prava glasa; iskustva građanskih posmatračkih misija

For various reasons, it doesn’t feel quite the same to be an international and a domestic election observer. After all, it’s not the same if a country of election fraud is a foreign one or your own. Citizens’ election observation missions are facing many different challenges in their work, but they all share the same goal – to protect the integrity of elections as the public interest.

Iz raznovrsnih razloga nije sasvim isto biti međunarodni i domaći posmatrač izbora. Naprosto, nije svejedno da li se izborna prevara događa u nekoj stranoj ili u vašoj zemlji. Građanske posmatračke misije suočavaju se s različitim problemima u radu, ali sve dele jedan cilj – da štite javni interes i integritet izbora.

Lead Contributors

Dario Jovanović
Director, Coalition for Free and Fair Elections ”Pod lupom”

Ivan Shukshin

Expert, GOLOS

Roman Udot

Independent expert

Moderation:

Vojislav Mihailović

Director of public opinion research, CRTA

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Ensuring Voter Registry integrity

Kako do biračkog spiska u koji se ne sumnja?

A public mistrust in the electoral process reaches an almost utmost depth when citizens lose trust in the accuracy of the voter register and start perceiving it as a  tool primarily used for election manipulations and abuse of voters’ rights. What is a way out of a crisis like that and who bears the biggest responsibility to provide a trustworthy document, which is a precondition for elections that may reflect the voters’ will?

Nepoverenje javnosti u izborni proces dobija dramatične razmere kad građani ne veruju čak ni u tačnost biračkog spiska i kada počnu da ga doživljavaju kao sredstvo za manipulacije i zloupotrebu prava birača. Kako pronaći izlaz iz takve krize i na kome je najveća odgovornost da se obezbedi verodostojan dokument, koji je preduslov da bi izbori uopšte mogli da odraze slobodnu volju birača. 

Cyril Kulenović

Electoral and Political Expert, Organisation internationale de la Francophonie 

Aleksandar Novakoski

Election Expert 

Dario Jovanović

Director, Coalition for Free and Fair Elections ”Pod lupom”

Brankica Janković

Commissioner for Protection of Equality 

Lenka Homolkova

Election expert, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)

Arnaud Mercier

Ministry of the Interior and Overseas France, Political Elections Department 

Veljko Odalović

Ministry of the Interior, Serbia (TBC)

Moderation:

Vladimir Erceg

Program Manager, CRTA

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Ensuring media pluralism: The role of regulators in safeguarding diversity

Mnogo medija, malo glasova; uloga regulatora u očuvanju medijskog pluralizma

Is it the same to manipulate mass media as to rob an election? Such a dilemma may sound too radical, but many examples around the world prove that radical unfairness in elections is mostly embodied in incomparable access to money and media. If there is no political pluralism in the media, how can an election race be competitive? If daily there is more propaganda than objective reporting in the media, what a difference an official campaign period can make, with all its quotas and regulations? And what if even then most of those regulations are not respected?

Da li je isto manipulisati medijima i pokrasti izbore? Takva dilema može da zvuči suviše radikalno, ali veliki je broj primera širom sveta koji potvrđuju da je radikalna neravnopravnost na izborima uglavnom ispoljena u odnosu na pristup novcu i medijima. Ako u medijima nema političkog pluralizma, kakav takmičarski karakter mogu da imaju izbori? Ako svakodnevno u medijiskim sadržajima ima više propaganda nego objektivnog informisanja, šta može da promeni zvanični period kampanje, sa svim njegovim kvotama i pravilima? A šta ako se čak ni tada pravila ne poštuju?

Lead Contributors:

Iva Nenadić

Researcher, Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom, European University Institute

Representative

Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication - ARCOM 

Snježana Milivojević

Professor, Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade

Saša Simović

Assistant Director for Legal, Regulatory body for electronic media 

Moderation:

Ivana Stevanović

Executive Director, Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation

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Local insights: How grassroots groups monitor elections and ensure fairness

Kako posmatrati izbore “na lokalu”?

Observers must be impartial and politically neutral, but that does not mean that election observing is not activism. On the contrary, observers are the people who invest their time and energy for a great cause – to support democracy, which is not possible without free and fair elections. What is specific about that kind of activism in local communities, where grassroot groups are mobilizing to watch over municipal elections?

Posmatrači moraju da budu nepristrasni i politički neutralni, ali to ne znači da posmatranje izbora nije aktivizam. Naprotiv, posmatrači su ljudi koji ulažu vreme i energiju u plemenitom cilju jačanja demokratije, koje nema bez slobodnih i poštenih izbora. Šta su specifičnosti takvog aktivizma u lokalnim zajednicama gde se grupe građana mobilišu kako bi nadgledale opštinske ili gradske izbore? 

CSO Res Publica  

Bojana Vlajović Savić

Marija Milošević Tanasijević

Marko Nikolić 

CSO Centar za razvoj Pomoravlja  

Zoran Stamenković 

Ivana Sokolović

Moderation:

Dušan Jordović & Marija Pešić

CRTA

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Protecting electoral integrity: The role of prosecutors in safeguarding voter rights

Integritet izbora; uloga tužilaca u zaštiti prava birača

How to combat impunity if perpetrators of election related criminal activities are not prosecuted and brought to justice? How to protect public prosecutors from political pressures and influences? As the number of law violations in the electoral process is growing, a question is whether prosecutors are provided with mechanisms that enable them to work more efficiently.

Kako se boriti protiv nekažnjivosti ako se ne gone i ne kažnjavaju počinioci krivičnih dela u izbornom procesu? Kako da javni tužioci budu zaštićeni od političkih uticaja, odnosno pritisaka? Dok u vezi s izborima raste broj kršenja zakona, pitanje je da li  tužilaštvo raspolaže neophodnim mehanizmima za efikasniji rad.

Lead Contributors:

Typhaine Roblot

Senior Legal and Justice Advisor, International Foundation for Electoral Systems: IFES

Goran Ilić

Honorary President, Association of Public Prosecutors and Deputy Public Prosecutors

Zekerija Mujkanović

Chief Prosecutor, Brčko District Prosecution

Olivera Rauković

Head District Prosecutor

Doboj District Prosecution

Moderation:

Pavle Dimitrijević

Director For Legal Affairs, CRTA

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Unveiling media influence in the Western Balkans: Strengthening democratic resilience against information manipulation

Otpornost na manipulacije informacijama; mediji na Zapadnom Balkanu

Is it the same to manipulate mass media as to rob an election? Such a dilemma may sound too radical, but many examples around the world prove that radical unfairness in elections is mostly embodied in incomparable access to money and media. If there is no political pluralism in the media, how can an election race be competitive? If daily there is more propaganda than objective reporting in the media, what a difference an official campaign period can make, with all its quotas and regulations? And what if even then most of those regulations are not respected?

Demokratija trpi kad dezinformacije i medijske manipulacije cvetaju, posebno ako se one šire iz geopolitičkih razloga. Jezičke i kulturne bliskosti su prednost regiona Zapadnog Balkana, ali mogu biti zloupotrebljene za lakše širenje toksične propagande. Zašto kažemo strani kada mislimo na maligni uticaj?

Lead Contributors:

Milena Popović

Editor-in-chief Istinomer/CRTA

Mahir Poljić

Project Manager, Center for Civic Initiatives

Jelena Danilović

Researcher, Atlantic Council of Montenegro

Milica Radovanović

Project Coordinator, New Social Initiative

Moderation:

Jovana Prešić

Project Coordinator, CRTA 

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Side event: Networks, influences, likes: In effect, do we elect? 

Prateći program: Mreže, uticaji, lajkovi: Imamo li izbora?

*event will be organized outside the Metropol hotel

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Side event: Elections - From A to Gen Z

Prateći program: Izbori - od generacije A do Z

*event will be organized outside the Metropol hotel

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Imagine there’s no…

How can historical memory be our ally in defending (or fighting for) democracy? Can national borders come between civil societies? Where is the line between principles and pragmatism? What is to inspire new generations of activists and are we living in a time of a crisis of imagination?

Kako da nam istorijsko pamćenje bude saveznik u odbrani demokratije? Mogu li nacionalne granice da se ispreče između civilnih društava? Gde je linija između principa, odnosno vrednosti i pragmatizma? Šta će inspirisati nove generacije na borbu za ideale u vremenu krize imaginacije? 

Svetlana Slapšak

Literary Historian, Anthropologist, Classical Philologist, and Writer

Alexander Cherkasov

Board Member, Memorial Human Rights Defence Centre

Moderation: 

Radovan Kupres

Creative Director, CRTA

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CLOSING: Shaping the future - Roadmap to electoral integrity

ZATVARANJE: Oblikovanje budućnosti – Mapa puta do integriteta izbora

Presentation of conclusions and recommendations from working group discussions

Prezentacija zaključaka i preporuka sa diskusija ekpertskih stolova i radnih grupa

Moderation: 

Raša Nedeljkov

Program Director, CRTA

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The Brave Voice Award ceremony for civic activism

Dodela nagrade "Hrabri glas" za građanski aktivizam

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