ECES is pleased to announce the publication of the updated edition of EURECS – A European Response to Electoral Cycle Support, the organisation's flagship strategic document and the institutional framework that has guided all ECES interventions since its establishment in 2010.
Originally published in 2016, the first edition of EURECS codified the principles that had already been shaping ECES' work since its creation. The newly released 2026 edition builds on sixteen years of practical implementation, institutional learning and methodological innovation, reflecting the evolution of both the global democratic environment and ECES itself.
Far more than a methodology for electoral assistance, EURECS has evolved into the strategic vision, implementation philosophy and operational architecture of ECES. It provides a comprehensive framework through which the organisation supports democratic governance, electoral and political processes, institutional resilience and democratic development worldwide.
Over the past sixteen years, ECES has implemented more than 150 programmes in over 70 countries across Africa, Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, mobilising more than €155 million in support of democratic governance and reaching over 800,000 stakeholders through training, coaching, leadership development, peer learning and institutional capacity building. This extensive practical experience forms the foundation of the updated strategy.
The new edition responds to a rapidly changing international context in which democratic institutions increasingly face challenges including political polarisation, democratic backsliding, armed conflicts, shrinking civic space, foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI), disinformation, cybersecurity threats and the growing impact of artificial intelligence on democratic processes. Against this backdrop, EURECS broadens its scope beyond electoral assistance to integrate democratic governance, conflict prevention, mediation, peacebuilding, information integrity, leadership development, digital transformation and democratic resilience into a single coherent framework.
The updated strategy is built around five guiding principles that underpin every ECES intervention:
- Holistic, recognising that credible elections depend on the wider democratic ecosystem;
- Long-term, supporting democratic institutions before, during and beyond electoral periods;
- Larger in scope, linking electoral support with democratic governance, political dialogue, mediation and institutional development;
- Digital and AI-aware, ensuring that technological innovation strengthens democratic integrity while safeguarding rights and institutional sovereignty;
- Inclusive, promoting meaningful participation, peer learning, South-South cooperation and regional partnerships as essential components of sustainable democratic governance.
As highlighted by ECES Founder and Executive Director Fabio Bargiacchi in the publication's Preface, the updated EURECS Strategy is not a change of direction but the natural evolution of the organisation's founding vision:
"EURECS was always meant to be much more than a methodology. It became the strategic vision, implementation philosophy and operational architecture of ECES."
The publication also reflects ECES' continued commitment to supporting the European Union, its Member States and partner countries through an independent, neutral and non-profit implementation platform capable of combining European values with national ownership, technical excellence, innovation and operational flexibility.
The 2026 edition therefore complements, rather than replaces, the original publication. While the 2016 edition introduced the European Response to Electoral Cycle Support, the new volume demonstrates how sixteen years of implementation have transformed EURECS into a comprehensive institutional doctrine capable of addressing today's increasingly complex democratic challenges.
By integrating electoral assistance with democratic governance, institutional resilience, conflict prevention, leadership development, digital transformation and international cooperation, the updated EURECS Strategy reaffirms ECES' commitment to strengthening democratic institutions, promoting inclusive political processes and supporting peaceful, credible and resilient democracies worldwide.
The updated publication is now available for download alongside the original 2016 edition, offering readers a unique opportunity to explore the evolution of ECES' strategic vision and its practical application across sixteen years of implementation.
While EURECS 2026 is already available for download through this website, its official institutional launch will take place during two landmark continental events: the 10th Annual Continental Forum of Election Management Bodies (EMBs), held on 6–7 July 2026, and the General Assembly of the Association of African Election Authorities (AAEA) on 8 July 2026, hosted by the National Elections Authority of Egypt (NEA) in Sharm El Sheikh.
The Forum and General Assembly are jointly organised by the African Union Commission (AUC), the National Elections Authority of Egypt (NEA) and the European ECES. The organisation of this edition of the Forum is fully financed by ECES through its own institutional resources as part of its long-standing commitment to strengthening electoral integrity, democratic governance, peer learning and regional cooperation across the African continent.
This initiative is implemented within the framework of the Pro-Electoral Integrity project and reflects the strategic partnership that ECES has helped establish and continuously strengthen between the Government of Italy, through the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and the African Union Commission. Since 2020, this partnership has enabled the implementation of a comprehensive continental programme supporting the African Union Commission, the Association of African Election Authorities and Electoral Management Bodies across Africa through executive peer-learning missions, continental forums, specialised training programmes, institutional capacity development, policy dialogue and technical assistance.
The 10th Annual Continental EMB Forum has become one of the flagship policy platforms of the African Union for promoting democratic governance, electoral integrity, institutional resilience and regional cooperation through peer learning and the exchange of comparative experiences among Electoral Management Bodies.
The 2026 edition is dedicated to the theme:
“African Citizens Abroad (Diaspora) Voting: Progress, Gaps and Prospects.”
The discussions will examine how African democracies can progressively extend meaningful, inclusive and secure political participation to millions of African citizens living outside their countries of origin, in accordance with the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG), the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and other continental and international democratic standards.
The official presentation of EURECS 2026 to the African electoral community during this landmark continental gathering—whose annual editions ECES has been supporting in partnership with the African Union Commission and the AAEA since 2020—reflects ECES’ long-standing conviction that sustainable democratic progress must be nationally and regionally owned. It also embodies the philosophy underpinning EURECS itself: that a specialised European implementation platform creates its greatest added value not by acting as an external actor, but by accompanying national and regional institutions as a trusted long-term partner, fostering peer learning, institutional strengthening, leadership development and locally owned democratic solutions.
