IAPEE🌐

Key Events of the Past Week (July 20 — July 26)

🇺🇳On July 24, the UN Security Council began closed-door discussions and preliminary straw polls to select the next Secretary-General of the United Nations. The process is scheduled to continue until July 30.

🇺🇸🇸🇦The United States and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement to support the development of the Kingdom’s peaceful civilian nuclear programme.

🇷🇺🇺🇸Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio held bilateral talks, discussing key issues on the international agenda and the state of Russia–U.S. relations.

🇬🇧Prime Minister Andy Burnham unveiled the composition of the United Kingdom’s new government following the formation of his Cabinet.

🇨🇳Foreign ministers of China and ASEAN member states met in Manila to discuss regional security, economic cooperation, and preparations for upcoming multilateral meetings.

🇬🇦🇫🇷President of Gabon Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema paid a state visit to Paris, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron on bilateral cooperation and investment.

🇰🇬The Council of Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation convened in Kyrgyzstan, with participants discussing regional security, economic cooperation, and preparations for the upcoming SCO Summit.

🇳🇮On July 19, during an event marking the 47th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega stated that there would be “no more elections” in the country.

Jaime Dagoberto Guevara Argueta, IAPEE Member and Former Member of the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of El Salvador, offers an assessment of the significance of Ortega’s statement and outlines the key lessons that should be drawn from it.

🇺🇸On July 16, US President Donald Trump delivered a national address focused on election integrity. He raised concerns about foreign interference and vulnerabilities in the US electoral system and called for stricter voting regulations ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Sebastian Lopez Calendino, Member of the IAPEE Governing Council and Director of the Center for Electoral and Political-Institutional Studies at the National University of La Plata, examines the key points of Trump’s speech and their broader implications for electoral processes in the United States.

Read the full expert commentary:
https://telegra.ph/Trumps-election-integrity-speech-expert-commentary-by-Sebastian-Lopez-Calendino-07-22

⚡️We are glad to announce a live voice chat room with Dário Abdula Camal, current member of the Youth Advisory Council of the African Union Commission from Mozambique.

🇿🇲Zambia has repeatedly demonstrated that political power can change hands peacefully through the ballot box. The country will head to the polls on August 13, with President Hakainde Hichilema seeking a second term amid growing criticism from the opposition and parts of civil society. Can he secure another term? And what could the outcome mean for Zambia and the wider Southern African region?

We’ll break it all down with IAPEE expert on July 22 (time TBA) in our Telegram channel. Bring your questions and join the conversation!

Yesterday, we told you about the School for Electoral Experts and how it helps young professionals develop practical skills, exchange experiences, and join an international community.

Today, we'd like to introduce another exciting opportunity for young people interested in elections and international cooperation. The Open Elections program, held as part of the World Youth Festival, offers participants a unique chance to gain hands-on experience and broaden their international perspective.

What makes this program unique, and what can participants expect? Watch our new video to find out👀.

Key Events of the Past Week (July 13 — July 19)

🇫🇷🇩🇪Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz held high-level talks focused on strengthening European defence cooperation. Germany is set to participate in a French nuclear exercise for the first time later this year.

🇬🇧Andy Burnham was elected leader of the Labour Party and is set to become the United Kingdom’s new Prime Minister, succeeding Keir Starmer.

🇷🇺🇦🇿 Russia and Azerbaijan announced the normalization of bilateral relations following talks between Foreign Ministers Sergey Lavrov and Jeyhun Bayramov in Moscow.

🇺🇸🇧🇷The United States imposed new 25% tariffs on imports from Brazil, citing trade imbalances and the need to protect American industries.

🇺🇦Leaders of the "Coalition of the Willing" met in Paris to coordinate further military and financial support for Ukraine.

🇨🇳Representatives of 29 countries signed the agreement establishing the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization in Shanghai.

On 15 July, global community celebrated World Youth Skills Day, which was established by the United Nations to highlight the importance of equipping young people with the skills they need for the future.

To mark the occasion, we would like to share an opportunity for young people who are eager to grow, develop professionally, and play an active role in shaping their future in the electoral sphere.

Watch the video to discover the School of Electoral Experts, a unique educational programme where young people from around the world can learn about international election observation, explore electoral systems, and become part of a global community of emerging electoral professionals.

🤣This year, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation marks its 25th anniversary.

Today, the SCO is the world's largest regional organisation by geographic coverage and one of the most influential platforms for Eurasian cooperation.

How did the SCO evolve over the past 25 years, and what role does it play today? Swipe through our cards to explore its history, key milestones, and impact.

Key Events of the Past Week (July 6 — July 12)

🇮🇷🇺🇸US President Donald Trump declared that the memorandum of understanding with Iran was no longer in effect after the two countries repeatedly exchanged strikes.

🇫🇷🇸🇾French President Emmanuel Macron paid an official visit to Syria. He became the first Western European leader to visit the country since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

🇺🇳The 36th NATO Summit was held in Ankara.

🇭🇺Hungarian President Tamas Sulyok rejected the constitutional amendment proposed by Peter Magyar that would have led to the president's removal from office.

🇳🇦🇨🇳 Namibian President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah paid a state visit to China. The two leaders announced the elevation of bilateral relations to a China-Namibia community with a shared future in the new era.

🇱🇦The SCO and Laos signed a memorandum on granting Vientiane the status of the organization's Dialogue Partner.

🇰🇷🇲🇳South Korean President Lee Jae Myung paid a state visit to Mongolia. He became the first Korean head of state to be invited as an official guest of honour at Mongolia’s Naadam National Festival.

🇺🇳The 36th NATO Summit took place in Ankara on 7–8 July. Our expert from Belgium, Anna Andersen, explained the issues discussed, the agreements reached, and what the NATO 3.0 concept entails.

Below are some of the expert’s key points:
• NATO is actively pursuing militarisation while deliberately avoiding diplomatic solutions. Rather than building a genuine security architecture, it relies solely on deterrence.

• NATO has pledged €70 billion in military aid to Ukraine this year and announced its intention to maintain a similar level of support next year. A key development is that Europe and Canada are now expected to provide the largest share of this funding.

• New procurement contracts worth more than $50 billion have been announced, alongside plans to expand production capacity. This marks a decisive shift, as security is finally moving beyond declarations and commitments towards concrete action: factories are being built, contracts are being signed, and new supply chains are being established.

• Trump criticised European allies but ultimately struck a note of unity. He granted Ukraine a licence to produce Patriot interceptors and endorsed Ukrainian strikes on targets within Russia. He also stated that he was prepared to lift sanctions on Turkey and consider supplying the country with F-35 fighter jets.

💬Yesterday, we had a live interview about the current situation in Serbia with Dragana Trifković. Here are some of the key points raised by the expert:

• Since returning to government in 2012 and assuming the presidency in 2017, Vučić has steadily brought the judiciary, the media landscape, and the party apparatus under his influence. As formal checks — courts, parliament, and the independent press — lose their real capacity to hold the executive accountable, grievances that would normally be processed through institutions instead accumulate until they spill into the streets.

• Each wave of protests in Serbia has rapidly broadened into a general indictment of corruption and unaccountable governance, suggesting that long-standing public dissatisfaction is continuous and merely finds new occasions for expression.

• The Serbian government has been tactically effective at surviving each wave of protest, but substantially ineffective at resolving the causes that drive them. The tactic is usually the same: waiting for the protests to weaken over time. At the same time, officials have frequently accused protesters of acting on behalf of foreign interests. However, they have not provided evidence to support these accusations.

• President Vučić’s announcement that he is ready to resign and call early presidential and parliamentary elections should be understood mainly as a political maneuver, not as a real withdrawal from power. The more likely scenario is that Vučić is preparing to return to the position of prime minister, a role he held from 2014 to 2017.

• Traditional parties have stopped developing their own authentic ideas. Most political parties are mainly focused on European integration, even though European integration is supported by only around 38–39% of Serbian citizens.

• The Serbian opposition is deeply divided by internal conflicts and has failed to build a clear and united political alternative. Moreover, some parties that formally present themselves as defenders of the national interest often use national rhetoric only at the level of slogans, without offering a consistent political program based on those principles.

• It is still unclear who will be the main candidate for presidential election. A candidate such as Ana Brnabić or Siniša Mali could signal a stronger pro-Western turn, while Ivica Dačić would suggest continuity in Serbia’s balancing policy between the EU, China, Russia, and the United States.

• Students became the driving force behind the protests because they were seen as independent from political parties and more trusted by the public. Another important reason is that students organized themselves through university assemblies and emphasized transparency, collective decision-making, and non-violent action. Finally, the tragedy that happened in Novi Sad directly affected young people, and many students felt that it reflected broader problems in society.

• As domestic legitimacy has weakened, President Vučić has sought to reinforce his position through closer relations with major international powers, particularly the United States and China. Vučić is currently trying to strengthen ties with Trump through closer cooperation with Israel, because in the past he supported Democratic candidates such as Biden and Harris.

• The lithium mining protests were primarily driven by concern among Serbian citizens about environmental protection. The public believes that the project developed by the Anglo-Australian company Rio Tinto Group could seriously damage the environment because it is planned in an ecologically very sensitive area with rich underground water resources and also valuable agricultural land.

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We remind you that today we are joined by Dragana Trifković, Director General at the Center for Geostrategic Studies. We will discuss the current situation in Serbia🇷🇸.

The live stream starts today at 15:00 UTC.