4 minutes
FURIC 2026: From Recommendations to Democratic Resilience
From fake observers to stalled reforms: why election observation must adapt to new democratic threats.
MEMO 98 participated in FURIC 2026 in Brussels, contributing to discussions on credible election observation, fake observers, democratic resilience and the implementation of election recommendations.
MEMO 98 took part in the Follow-Up on Recommendations’ Implementation Conference (FURIC) 2026, held in Brussels on 30 September – 1 October 2026. Organised by the European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE), this year’s conference was held under the title “From Reform to Resilience: Future-Proofing Democratic Elections.”
The conference focused on how democratic elections can be protected in an environment increasingly shaped by digital transformation, disinformation, fake observation, opaque campaign finance, cybersecurity risks and shrinking civic space. It brought together election experts, citizen observers, international organisations, civil society representatives and institutional actors to discuss how election observation can remain credible, resilient and effective.
MEMO 98 was represented by its Executive Director Rasťo Kužel, who contributed to two discussions: one on protecting the integrity of election observation, and another on why some election recommendations lead to reform while others remain unimplemented.
#Protecting credible election observation
In the first discussion, Rasťo Kužel emphasised that a resilient election observation ecosystem cannot be built only by deploying observers. It also requires legal guarantees, institutional cooperation, protection from pressure, and the ability to defend credible evidence in a contested information space.
He stressed that fake observation should be understood as part of foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) and wider hybrid threats. Fake observation is not merely a problem of a few biased individuals calling themselves observers. Increasingly, it is used to create a parallel validation system for elections that do not meet democratic standards, blur the distinction between credible and fake observation, and weaken public trust in independent assessments.
Drawing on recent examples, MEMO 98 pointed to the Russian model of eliminating credible domestic observation, excluding credible international observation, and filling the space with friendly or fake observers. This practice is not only about legitimising flawed elections domestically, but also about exporting a model of manufactured electoral legitimacy.
#From recommendations to reform
In the second discussion, Rasťo Kužel focused on the Slovak case and the question of why some election recommendations are implemented while others remain stuck.
His main message was that recommendations are more likely to move forward when they are technical, administratively owned, and do not create an obvious political loser. By contrast, reforms that would strengthen scrutiny over political actors - especially in areas such as campaign finance, third-party campaigning, complaints and remedies, and media independence - face far greater resistance.
The Slovak experience shows that evidence and recommendations alone are often not enough. Turning recommendations into reform requires concrete institutional models, domestic ownership, political sponsors, international benchmarks, public pressure and sustained engagement between elections.
This is particularly important in areas where reforms would affect the very actors who are expected to adopt them. Campaign-finance oversight is a clear example: stricter rules and more independent enforcement would increase transparency and accountability, but they would also subject political parties and candidates to closer scrutiny.
#Election observation as democratic resilience
FURIC 2026 confirmed that election observation follow-up is not a narrow technical issue. It is part of the broader agenda of democratic resilience.
In a context of disinformation, fake observation, opaque political finance, pressure on civil society and new technological risks, protecting credible observers and ensuring meaningful follow-up to their recommendations is essential for public trust in democratic elections.
For MEMO 98, participation in FURIC 2026 was an opportunity to connect its long-standing work on media monitoring, election observation, disinformation and electoral reform with wider European efforts to future-proof democratic elections.
#Videos
Recordings of the FURIC 2026 livestreams are available here:
Day 1 livestream:
https://youtube.com/live/AgAaYkUXtxk?feature=share
Day 2 livestream:
https://www.youtube.com/live/m-iwutS_xKs
The full FURIC 2026 programme is available on the EPDE website:
https://epde.org/furic/