Registration and coffee

Welcoming remarks by Moderator Shada Islam and by Patrick Molinoz, Chair of CIVEX commission, Committee of the Regions

Keynote address by Dubravka Šuica, European Commission Vice-President for Democracy and Demography

Session 1: Elections 2024 - latest state of play

2024 is a super election year. Elections will be held in 8 of the world's 10 most populous nations (Bangladesh, Brazil, India, United States, Indonesia, Pakistan, Russia, Mexico) as well as in 16 African countries. Around 4 billion voters - approximately a quarter of the world's population - are expected to be heading to the polls this year. How will these elections impact the world in general and democracy in particular? Is the world becoming more or less democratic? Has the European Union done enough to promote democracy in partner countries?

Keynote speech: Elections and science by Professor Michael Bruter, London School of Economics

Coffee break

Session 2: Mobilising young people at the ballot box: good practices and challenges

Several studies have shown that young people are turning away from democracy and politics. However, recent elections have highlighted how mobilised young people can impact the result of elections. Recently, South African voters have been queuing up for up to 6 hours to cast their ballot in a process through which the main political party will lose its absolute majority after 30 years of unchallenged political dominance. From Poland to Guatemala, Zambia (2021), Argentine (2023), Liberia ( 2023), Senegal (2024), people were able to shake up the status quo by voting en masse to bring opposition candidates to power. For better or worse, voters can make a change, sometimes radical one. Even if elections are not enough to make democracy a democracy, they still matter for voters and political alternance is a key deterrent for corruption and abuse of power. In the year of elections, young people hold the key to reinvigorating democracy through the ballot box.

Presentation of OECD Trust Survey

Session 3: International Democracy Day at 10

In this panel, speakers will reflect on the ten years that have passed since the first edition of the International Democracy Day Brussels conference, a decade of democratic recession, receding civic space and media freedom, yet also of mass protest. They will reflect on EU international democracy support during this decade and on the role democracy support will play during the next Commission.

Final remarks