CP/RES. 931 (1634/08)

CONVOCATION OF THE INTER-AMERICAN MEETING OF EXPERTS
AND REPRESENTATIVES OF ELECTORAL BODIES

(Approved at its meeting of March 12, 2008)

THE PERMANENT COUNCIL OF THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES,

HAVING SEEN resolution AG/RES. 2337 (XXXVII-O/07), “Modernization and Use of Electoral Technologies in the Hemisphere”;

BEARING IN MIND the Charter of the Organization of American States (OAS), which establishes in its preamble that representative democracy is an indispensable condition for the stability, peace and development of the region, and that one of the essential purposes of the Organization is to promote and consolidate representative democracy, with due respect for the principle of nonintervention;

RECALLING that, in the Plan of Action of the Third Summit of the Americas, the Heads of State and Government of the democratic countries of the Hemisphere affirmed that they would “continue to enhance electoral mechanisms, using information and communications technologies where possible, to effectively guarantee the impartiality, promptness and independent action of agencies, tribunals or other bodies responsible for the conduct, supervision and verification of elections at national and sub-national levels”;

CONSIDERING the reports of the various observation and technical electoral assistance missions, in particular their diverse recommendations on the need to improve electoral processes, which constitutes an important contribution to strengthening democratic institutional systems;

UNDERSCORING the advisability of reinforcing, for these purposes, hemispheric cooperation and the exchange of experiences in the area of electoral technologies and related legislation, with support from the OAS,

RESOLVES:

1. To convene the Inter-American Meeting of Experts and Representatives of Electoral Bodies, to be held in Caracas, Venezuela, on April 4, 2008, for the purpose of exchanging experiences and best practices in the countries of the Hemisphere on, among other things, voter identification systems, voter registration procedures, and automated election systems.

2. To thank the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for its offer to host the Inter-American Meeting of Experts and Representatives of Electoral Bodies.

3. To instruct that the conclusions of the Inter-American Meeting of Experts and Representatives of Electoral Bodies be submitted to the Fifth Inter-American Meeting of Electoral Authorities.

4. To instruct that resources be allocated from the program-budget for 2008 to finance the Inter-American Meeting of Experts and Representatives of Electoral Bodies.