The panel “Elections, Information Integrity and Societal Resilience: The Battle Before Election Day”, which concluded this year’s 2BS Forum, highlighted the importance of sustained efforts to build public trust in democratic processes long before election campaigns begin.
Laura Jasper, a strategic analyst at the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS), stressed that information manipulation and the erosion of public trust do not occur exclusively during election campaigns, but are part of a long-term process that intensifies as elections approach. She noted that narratives and mechanisms for spreading disinformation are often established years in advance, while their use can be adapted to different national contexts.
Sead Alihodžić, Senior Adviser on Elections, Conflict and Security at International IDEA, emphasised that election administration begins its work long before political campaigns officially get under way. By that stage, planning, preparations and efforts to build public trust should already be well under way.
Matjaž Gruden, Director of Democracy at the Council of Europe, discussed societal resilience as the foundation for the long-term protection of democracy. He stressed that safeguarding democracy means not only protecting it from external threats and malicious influence, but also strengthening democratic institutions and society itself.
He identified several essential prerequisites: access to reliable information and independent media, preserving opportunities for civic participation, quality civic education, developing critical thinking and maintaining trust in knowledge. He particularly emphasised the need to ensure that young people’s voices are heard and that they are actively involved in decision-making, warning that ignoring their concerns, frustrations and expectations could lead them to express their dissatisfaction in other ways.