TEPSA has coordinated a briefing requested by DROI Subcommittee of the European Parliament. The briefing was published as part of the workshop “Strengthening the right to participate: legitimacy and resilience of electoral processes in illiberal political systems and authoritarian regimes”. It is authored by Richard Youngs, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Belgium. The briefing is entitled “How can the EU and its partners respond to the use of elections as legitimation strategies by authoritarian regimes?”
This Briefing examines different elements of the democracy and human rights toolbox of the European Union (EU) as they relate to authoritarian regimes’ electoral legitimation strategies. The EU’s focus on these kinds of problematic electoral processes has improved over the past decade but there is still room to develop EU policies further by addressing authoritarian electoral legitimation strategies as the symptom of deeper underlying drivers of non-democratic trends. The Briefing proposes ten policy actions to implement such an approach, involving diplomatic, funding and multilateral human rights instruments.
Download the full briefing, as well as the workshop proceedings here