WASHINGTON, USA – The 15th Inter-American Meeting of Electoral Authorities (XV RAE), organized by the Organization of American States (OAS), will be held in Quito from November 29 to December 1. At the meeting, which will bring together the highest democratic electoral authorities in the Hemisphere, topics such as disinformation in electoral contexts, the rights of political participation, and the challenges to achieve parity democracy, among others, will be addressed.
At the ceremony in which the Ecuadorian government presented the OAS General Secretariat with the letter of commitment to host, the OAS Secretary for Strengthening Democracy, Francisco Guerrero, said “this meeting is one more example of the commitment of the Organization to support the very important work carried out by the electoral authorities of the region. Holding inclusive, transparent and honest elections requires effort and dedication, but also the necessary conditions to work with autonomy and independence.” “We thank Ecuador for hosting the meeting,” added secretary Guerrero.
The president of the National Electoral Council of Ecuador, Diana Atamaint, emphasized the importance of the meetings of electoral authorities to continuously improve the institutional capacities of the electoral bodies in the region. “Through the exchange of experiences and knowledge we strengthen the planning and execution of efficient, transparent electoral processes with legal certainty,” he said. “This will also be an opportunity to review the pending challenges of the electoral function of Ecuador,” he added.
For his part, the president of the Electoral Contentious Court of Ecuador, Fernando Muñoz, assured that, for the Ecuadorian electoral authorities, hosting the event is of special importance as “it becomes a space for the exchange of knowledge and experiences that allow strengthening the effective protection of participation rights.”
In 2018, the OAS General Assembly entrusted the General Secretariat, through the Department for Electoral Cooperation and Observation, to serve as the technical secretariat of the Inter-American Meetings of Electoral Authorities to continue facilitating institutional spaces that promote the exchange of experiences, lessons learned and dissemination of knowledge on electoral matters in the region, as well as the recommendations issued by the Electoral Observation Missions of the Organization.