ABEC Chairman participates in high level meeting for EMBs in Paraguay

PRESS STATEMENT:

St. John’s Antigua: Wednesday 21st August 2024:

Chairman of the Antigua and Barbuda Electoral Commission (ABEC), Ambassador Arthur Thomas, is among a number of senior officials attending the Inter-American Meetings of Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) in Paraguay.

The high-level meetings facilitate horizontal cooperation to strengthen continuously the institutional capacities of electoral bodies and further improve the way elections are conducted in the Americas.

The topics, which were addressed during the meeting, were “Electoral Integrity in the age of Artificial Intelligence; Promoting a secure and deliberative information ecosystem in electoral processes; The health of democracy and democratic institutions: regional and global trends; and Bullets vs. Votes: elections in contexts of political- electoral violence.

Ambassador Thomas indicated that the sessions were very informative and engaging, while emphasizing the important responsibility of EMBs in fostering best practices while strengthening the capacity.

“This meeting highlighted the continuing responsibility of EMBs internationally, regionally and domestically in protecting and safeguarding democratic principles and norms which have been developed over decades. Whilst new challenges are presented with the advent of social media, Artificial Intelligence and a growing tendency towards authoritarianism to name a few, electoral bodies are called upon to continue to act as a lighthouse for the protection of the precious right of one person, one vote; government by the ballot versus government by bullets”, he explained.

He added that during the meeting, there was a thrust to resuscitate the Association of Caribbean Electoral Bodies, which will no doubt strengthen electoral processes in the English-Speaking Caribbean. The meeting of the Interamerican Electoral Authorities will convene its next meeting in the Republic of Chile in 2025.