The workshop was held in Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, with 30 members of the multistakeholder group formed by representatives from Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), civil society organizations, academics, among others. The event was also attended by representatives from the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The workshop enabled participants to develop a prioritized action plan for the group in the run-up to the November 2025 parliamentary elections. The roadmap, informed by a mapping event held in Baghdad in April 2025, included several potential implementation activities aimed at protecting elections in the information environment. This included a crisis communication training session in Baghdad and an implementation workshop for increased cooperation among civil society organizations in Erbil to counter misinformation.
The overall project aims to improve the protection of electoral processes by countering malign influencing practices and learning from evolving discourse and engagement in six different focus countries. Informed by global best practices and exchanges between partner countries, the project will enable national actors in focus countries to identify suggestions for the way forward, work towards implementing suggestions, and share lessons learned with global audiences.
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