REPORT ON EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR VOTER EDUCATION: EMPOWERING CITIZENS TO MAKE INFORMED DECISIONS

INTRODUCTION

Several elections have been held in the Kurdistan Region since 1992. However, a consistent low voter turnout has been recorded which highlights the need for more emphasis on voter education. Voter education is the process of informing and educating voters on various aspects of the elections, enabling and empowering them to make informed decisions during the electoral process.

A well designed and effectively implemented voter education campaign can help increase voter turnout and encourage voters to make informed decisions. These campaigns can be

more effective if conducted through collaboration between the Election Management Body (EMB) and other relevant stakeholders, such as civil society organizations.

With the aim of thoroughly examining the voter education challenges in the Kurdistan Regional elections and recommending measures to overcome such challenges through workshops, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) Office of Electoral Assistance (OEA), in collaboration with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the Kurdistan

Region and in coordination with the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), planned two workshops to create a platform for CSOs to discuss above mentioned theme.

This, being the second of these workshops was held from April 26-27 in Dohuk, with the participation of 48 CSO partners (24 female and 24 male) representing Shams network - a

CSO network that has rich experience working on electoral issues, especially domestic electoral observation. This report is prepared to highlight the key discussions that took place

during the workshop.