World Forum for Democracy to Host Event on Electoral Processes
World Forum for Democracy to Host Event on Electoral Processes
The World Forum for Democracy has become an annual opportunity for citizens around the world to reflect on democracy.
From 6 to 8 November 2024, at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, the World Forum for Democracy will bring together intellectuals, politicians, campaigners, experts and young people from across the world to discuss the issue of diversity and whether we can transcend divides.
In this year in which half of the world population has been or will be voting in elections, the 2024 Forum will address the major threats posed by disinformation and divisive political messages relating to diversity, including in the context of election campaigns.
The Forum will question the way in which electoral processes unintentionally crystallize society’s divisions and become fertile ground for populism to grow. Seeing how urgent this challenge is, the Forum will investigate ways of raising public awareness about the threats that populism poses to their fundamental rights and freedoms. It will also highlight how much diversity can contribute to positive co-existence.
The plenary sessions will focus on the following topics: Elections and Value Divides; Unraveling the Web of Disinformation; Citizen Engagement for a Democratic Renewal; and From Populism to Authoritarianism – is the erosion of democracy inevitable?
The programme also includes 14 Forum Talks and 10 Labs designed to look at the issues from various angles, present some of the measures already implemented and offer democratic remedies to some of the problems raised in the course of the Forum.
The Council of Europe Democracy Innovation Award will be given at the closing ceremony (on Friday 8 November, at 12 noon), rewarding the most popular initiative presented in the labs.
Young people from all over the world and students from Sciences Po Strasbourg and Syracuse Strasbourg will take an active part in debates. Over the three days, local and international artists from the fields of music, song, poetry, drawing and graphic arts will present their works.
The Forum is held by the Council of Europe in partnership with the City of Strasbourg, the European Territorial Authority of Alsace, the Grand Est Region and the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.
Since 2012, the World Forum for Democracy has become an annual opportunity for citizens around the world to reflect on democracy, to analyze its shortcomings and limitations, but also to generate new ideas to respond to the challenges facing democracy. The Forum will be broadcast on the Internet.
Courtesy: Council of Europe