Navigating Tech Policy and Global Election Integrity

There are many lessons to be learned from what collectively came to be known as the 'Supercycle Election Year' of 2024. Together with the European Partnership of Democracy (EPD), International IDEA have published the report ‘The Election Year 2024 and Tech Policy around the World’, which identifies key features and gaps in tech policy around the world with implications for democracy to synthesize a series of regulatory recommendations for the European Union.

In this podcast, we sit down with Juliane Müller from International IDEA and Sofia Calabrese from EPD, the authors of the Supercycle report. Together, they discuss what institutions, coordination strategies, and regulatory instruments are needed to protect the integrity of elections. 

Drawing on examples from around the world, they share insights on how to address the challenges of web-based election cycles through international regulatory standards, interagency collaboration, and cross-sectoral multistakeholder engagement. 

They also explore how coexisting EU frameworks such as the Digital Services Act (DSA), the AI act, the EU Democracy Shield, and the EU Omnibus package can work in contradiction to simultaneously reinforce and undermine democratic protections.