Bill Sweeney, IFES president and CEO, and Michael Svetlik, IFES vice-president for programs, participated at the Carter Center’s 5th Meeting on the Implementation of the Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation. The meeting, which took place on October 13-14, 2010, marked the 5th anniversary of the endorsement of the Declaration of Principles at the United Nations – a critical milestone and an opportunity to continue to advance the field of international election observation.

The event brought together members of top organizations involved in election observation, as well as those in the democracy  assistance community.

The two main topics that were addressed were:  follow-up to mission recommendations; and the observation of electronic voting technologies.

Mr. Sweeney participated on a panel about technology in elections and observing e-voting. The panelists looked at the Philippines 2010 elections, which used Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines nation-wide for the first time ever, as a case study. Mr. Svetlik moderated a panel on follow through of election observation missions.