A WEB

On 25 March 2026, the Central Election Commission of Armenia (CEC) hosted an international conference bringing together — held the day following the 14th A-WEB Executive Board Meeting convened in Yerevan on 24 March — bringing together election management bodies (EMBs), and international organizations. The conference served as a platform for sharing experiences across three thematic areas: electoral administration and digital innovation, cybersecurity and hybrid threats, and institutional capacity building through international cooperation.

A-WEB member EMBs from Georgia, Kosovo, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Mexico were among the participating delegations and presented on a range of topics. Representing their respective institutions were Mr. Giorgi Kalandarishvili, Chairperson of the Central Election Commission of Georgia; Mr. Alban Krasniqui, Member of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kosovo; Mr. Tzung-Yu Lai, Section Chief of Electoral Affairs, Central Election Commission of Taiwan; Mr. Idham Holik, Commissioner of the General Elections Commission of the Republic of Indonesia; and Ms. Arlene Cabral, Head of the International Affairs Unit, National Electoral Institute of Mexico. 

Session I — Electoral Administration in Armenia

The opening session introduced Armenia's electoral system, tracing its evolution from a politically appointed body in the 1990s into a constitutionally independent commission. CEC Chairman Vahagn Hovakimyan underscored the importance of public trust as a cornerstone of electoral integrity, highlighting the commission's sustained efforts to build credibility through transparency and institutional reform. The UNDP Resident Representative in Armenia, Ms. Natia Natsvlishvili, highlighted UNDP's ARTEMIS program — a multi-donor initiative focused on digitalization, institutional reform, and international knowledge exchange — and noted that recent needs assessment missions had observed a notably high level of public trust and confidence in Armenia's electoral institutions.

Session II — Digital Transformation in Electoral Administration

This session examined how EMBs are leveraging digital tools to enhance transparency, efficiency, and public engagement. Armenia's CEC presented its suite of over twenty information systems, including voter identification devices, electronic observer accreditation, and a national interoperability interface under development. Indonesia's KPU showcased eleven digital platforms covering voter list management, results recapitulation, and campaign finance disclosure across 282 million registered voters. Kosovo's CEC shared a candid account of a system failure during results publication in February 2025 that was exploited to spread disinformation — and how the commission fully rebuilt its digital infrastructure within eight weeks, achieving 160 million processed requests with zero downtime by the October elections. Ms. Laura Simonyam of the Folke Bernadotte Academy rounded out the session by presenting a practical guide on defending elections against hybrid threats, emphasizing that inter-agency cyber cooperation must be institutionalized well before election periods, not improvised during them.

Session III — Capacity Building and Institutional Cooperation

The final session addressed the human and institutional dimensions of electoral resilience. Georgia's CEC Chairperson Kalandarishvili described a phased rollout of election technologies accompanied by a poll worker certification program and an electoral media school, noting that 75% of CEC Georgia's training graduates go on to serve in electoral commissions. IFES Country Director Jérôme Leyraud argued that rising complexity — hybrid threats, social media's year-round influence, and shrinking international funding — demands long-term, inter-agency models of technical assistance over election-cycle interventions. Taiwan's CEC presented its rapid-response disinformation framework, built around direct channels with Meta and Google and third-party fact-checkers. Mexico's INE closed the session by previewing the third Global Summit for Electoral Democracy, planned for October 2026 in Mexico City.

Significance for A-WEB

The Yerevan conference exemplifies the kind of peer-to-peer learning and knowledge exchange that A-WEB is committed to fostering among its member institutions. Across all three sessions, a consistent message emerged: the most durable gains in electoral integrity come not from any single technology or tool, but from sustained institutional investment, inter-agency cooperation, and the systematic exchange of experience among EMBs. The active participation of A-WEB member institutions — and the breadth of practical experience they shared — reinforces the value of A-WEB's role as a global platform for electoral knowledge exchange.