Activities of Leopoldo LÓPEZ GIL related to 2022/2154(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Strengthening the right to participate: legitimacy and resilience of electoral processes in illiberal political systems and authoritarian regimes (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on a European Parliament recommendation to the Council and the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy concerning strengthening the right to participate: legitimacy and resilience of electoral processes in illiberal political systems and authoritarian regimes
Amendments (24)
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the right of citizens to vote and to be elected inparticipate in the management of public affairs, including the right to vote and to be elected in free, transparent, verifiable, periodic, and genuine democratic elections are fundamental, internationally recognised human rights;
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to take part in the government of their country and that the people’s will, expressed through periodic, genuine and universal elections, must be the basis of government; whereas this message is reiterated by Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the right to participate in free and fair elections is intrinsically linked to other basic rights, such as the rights to freedom from discrimination, freedom of expression and opinion, and freedom of peaceful assembly and association;
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas so that the right to vote and to be elected can be genuinely exercised, a climate must prevail in which human rights are respected and enjoyed by all, particularly the rights to equality and non-discrimination, freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and association, security, and to an effective remedy;
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas over 75 % of people live in non-democratic countriescountries that are not free, which limits their basic human rights; whereas shrinking space for civil society negatively influences the right to participate in genuine elections;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas in 2022, only 8% of the global population lived in so-called 'full democracies' and more than one third of the global population lived under authoritarian rule (36.9%) - a large portion of them being in China and Russia;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas the right to participate in genuine elections is not respected in autocratic and illiberal regimes, which conduct sham elections with the goal of entrenching their power; whereas such elections are not free, transparent, verifiable, pluralistic and fair, lack reallegitimate political contestation and place undue restrictions on the right to both vote and be elected;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)
Recital G a (new)
Ga. whereas arbitrary and politically fabricated disqualifications of opposition candidates are tools traditionally used by autocratic regimes to interfere in electoral processes, excluding anyone who may become a threat to the continuity of the autocratic government, to manipulate elections in such a way that the civilian population is hampered in their electoral choices and to avoid any prospect of a return to democracy;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas autocratic and illiberal regimes have developed new ways and mock-compliance strategies to overcome the costs of fully complying with international election observation standards without overtly denouncing them; whereas theyse tactics include observation systems involving false election observers, which help to steer the post-electoral discourse in support of autocratic and illiberal regimes; whereas these regimes are becoming increasingly well organised in their efforts to provide international legitimacy to each other’s fake elections;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas the severity and scale of attacks against non-partisan election observers –including harassment, defamation, threats, violations of rights and, expulsions, physical violence and even killings – have intensified in recent years, creating an environment of uncertainty and insecurity with regard to their important work; whereas the EU considers election observers to be human rights defenders;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K
Recital K
K. whereas tensions between democracies and authoritarian regimes are becoming more geopolitical; whereas this trend requires the EU to raise its democratic concerns to the highest political level, including by building more strategic alliances for democracy and by considering democracy as a strategic interest and as a key part of its geo-economic and trade strategies, and finding unconventional ways to support civic voices capable of speaking out against autocracies and their legitimisation strategies;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K a (new)
Recital K a (new)
Ka. whereas regimes use elections as part of their authoritarian strategy, the European Union should focus not only on the electoral processes themselves, but also on the surrounding context and the underlying causes of authoritarian legitimisation;
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point a
Paragraph 1 – point a
(a) design and implement more decisive EU actions to promote and protect the right to participate, as part of a much broader European Union Common Foreign and Security Policy strategy on human rights and democracy support;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point c
Paragraph 1 – point c
(c) streamline the right to participate in the EU’s external action toolbox; that the European Union’s delegations in third countries join forces and cooperate with the embassies of the Member States in order to promote EU values in this context in unison;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point d
Paragraph 1 – point d
(d) acknowledge the severity of the difficulties that people living under autocratic and illiberal regimes have in accessing unbiased election-related information and discerning it from among regime-sponsored propaganda, including reliable information on candidates, voting preferences and the conduct of the election process, which inhibits their ability to understand whether elections are truly competitive and whether citizens’ preferences are reflected in the results; understand the erosion to the morale of the civil population caused by manipulated, non-transparent and illegitimate elections, as they create mistrust in both national and international government institutions;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point e
Paragraph 1 – point e
(e) counter the narrative promoted by autocratic and illiberal regimes that they have mandates from their citizens as a result of genuine elections; formulate, in this regard, a comprehensive EU global strategy to counter the tools that these regimes use to legitimise elections, such as fake observers and shadow election observation groups in the place of standardised international missions; that this comprehensive and global strategy go beyond dialogue and statements of concern by the EU, and be geared towards improving the standards of democracy and the state of rights in the countries concerned;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point f
Paragraph 1 – point f
(f) strengthen the link between election observation work and the EU’s wider support for human rights and democracy using both political and cooperation tools; consider both authoritarian electoral legitimisation strategies asnd early symptoms of underlying non-democratic trends, such as the restriction of freedoms and the repression of independent civil society, political opponents and the media, and react accordingly;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point g
Paragraph 1 – point g
(g) counter autocratic and illiberal regimes’ efforts to create false internal perceptions of the genuineness of their fake elections; pay particular attention to autocratic and illiberal regimes’ election- related abuses of information and communication technology and artificial intelligence in relation with manipulating elections, which they are increasingly carrying out in order to negatively affect participation by disseminating propaganda and disinformation and by implementing restrictions on access to information about the opposition’s ideas and candidates;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point h
Paragraph 1 – point h
(h) recognise the crucial role of civil society in delegitimising fake elections in the eyes of local populations; support independent civil society organisations, human rights defenders and the media, including through capacity building and communications strategies, and by gathering data on violations of the right to participate in genuine elections; support, in particular, local elections observers, whose activities increase people’s belief that their right to participate in genuine elections will be respected;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point m
Paragraph 1 – point m
(m) include the outmonitor closely the adoption and implementation of the recommendations of the EU’s election observation missions, and include them as an essential part of the overall framework for relations between the EU and the country concerned;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point n
Paragraph 1 – point n
(n) address the right to participate in non-EU countries through EU human rights dialogues; ensure that those dialogues include independent civil society organisations;
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point o
Paragraph 1 – point o
(o) use the EU Gglobal Hhuman Rrights Ssanctions Rregimes (including the European Magnitsky Act) for persons responsible for serious breaches of the right to participate and of democratic election standards; make additional use of the EU's restrictive measures to sanction those who gradually, progressively and covertly undermine democracy and the rule of law, allowing authoritarian trends to take hold in those countries;
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point o a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point o a (new)
(oa) ensure that suspension of the EU's restrictive measures is conditional upon a real and demonstrable improvement in human rights, democracy and the rule of law in the country concerned; ensure that the organisation of elections is not correlated with the improvement in democracy in the country concerned; carry out an in-depth study of the situation in the country and re-examine its gradual return to the rule of law and democracy before even considering ending sanctions;
Amendment 102 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point p
Paragraph 1 – point p
(p) recognise the role of the EU’s election observation missions in providing evidence on whether elections are genuine and further improve this tool, including by strengthening its visibility and bolstering the communications strategy both before and after elections;