Democracy Volunteers has links to many international observer groups, which it tries to support and cooperate with to help improve election observation and also to support those where election observation is less open than in the UK.
During the recent Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse Scottish Parliamentary By-election three Russian election observers, now resident in Lithuania for their own safety, were welcomed by Democracy Volunteers to Scotland to see how Scottish elections run and how they are different from UK elections.
Votes for 16 year olds, no requirement to show ID when voting and the different constitutional status of Scotland were all things that the group discovered as part of their visit. Whilst in Scotland the group were welcomed by MSPs at the Scottish Parliament, the John Smith Centre at Glasgow University as well as the Electoral Management Board for Scotland. They also had meetings with the Returning Officer for the by-election and the Electoral Commission.
Commenting, Dr John Ault said ‘welcoming international observers to our elections is something we often do. Welcoming the team of 3 Russian observers shows our solidarity with those who are faced by bigger challenges on the ground than we are. In Russia, election observers can be imprisoned on trumped up charges, in the UK we are free to observe and help to improve the election process. It’s no wonder that the UN recently defined election observers as human rights defenders, wherever they work.’
(Photo: Dr John Ault with MSP Willie Rennie and Russian election expert, Ivan Shukshin)
