Electoral Observation Declaration adopted at the UN

The Global Declaration of Principles and Code of Conduct for International Electoral Observation was adopted at a ceremony at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York on 27 October addressed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, former US President Jimmy Carter and former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

IDEA has contributed from the beginning to the several years of work that led to the Declaration and the Code. That work was coordinated by the UN Electoral Assistance Division, the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the Carter Center.

Speaking at the endorsement ceremony, IDEA's Head of Electoral Processes Andrew Ellis said:
“Those who seek to manipulate elections continually devise new ways to try to subvert the freely and fairly expressed democratic will of the people. They can be defeated by the efforts of those committed to legitimate elections – by electoral participants and by civil society organisations engaged in domestic observation, backed up by the strength of credible regional and international observation. This Declaration of Principles and Code of Conduct, discussed and agreed by democracy builders and electoral observers from the South as well as from the North, will play a major role in defining and buttressing this credibility.”

Read IDEA’s full endorsement statement here