The fifth Asian Electoral Stakeholder Forum (AESF 5) participants developed a memorandum which provides insights on the way forward for elections beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the COVID-19 pandemic compounded the already existing unprecedented attacks to democracy and the continuous backsliding of fundamental freedoms worldwide, AESF 5 gathered a diversity of election stakeholders to identify challenges to advancing electoral democracy and provide recommendations and best practices to overcome those challenges.

Three thematic working groups met and discussed fostering inclusive and participatory elections, challenges to electoral integrity and possible solutions, and best practices for election management during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A total of 200 participants representing election management bodies, civil society organizations, and international or regional NGOs joined the working group meetings online in September and October 2021. AESF 5 was held on 20-21 October 2021.

The AESF 5 memorandum follows documents produced during previous AESFs that aims to guide stakeholders in striving to improve electoral processes in their respective countries in pursuit of genuine democracy.

Documents produced in the four previous AESFs are the Bangkok Declaration on Free and Fair Elections, the Dili Indicators of Democratic Elections, the Bali Commitment to Electoral Transparency and the “Colombo Pledge".

The Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) and the Association of World Election Bodied (A-WEB) co-hosted AESF 5.

Download here: "AESF 5 Memorandum: The Way Forward for Elections Beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic"