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Participants of the conference organised by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), in co-operation with the Swiss Parliament, on the 60th anniversary of the accession of Switzerland to the Council of Europe, representing national parliaments, electoral management bodies (EMBs), international organisations and other profiles such as academics, practitioners, experts and civil society representatives, have gathered in Bern on the eve of the 4th Summit of the Heads of States and Government of the Council of Europe (Reykjavik, 16-17 May 2023) to discuss recent challenges and opportunities that we face while organising elections.

The following are some of the primary takeaways:

• Recognise that the COVID-19 pandemic challenged fundamental rights and electoral norms as well as the practices and approaches governing electoral management which have been in place in recent decades;
• Based on the lessons learned during the pandemic, we call on EMBs to conduct occasional systematic reviews of the rules, norms, methods, and procedures that govern the organisation and administration of elections, focusing on resilience, agility, and adaptability while fulfilling their mandates.;
• The planet is suffering the negative effects of climate crisis which, according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), makes certain natural disasters more frequent and their consequences more devastating;
• We call on governments to protect the right to a "safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment" and, in order to reach this goal, to identify the possible external hazards affecting electoral processes, as it is important to determine the appropriate State agencies, essential service providers, local and regional administrations that will have the mandates, skillsets and resources to act during crises.