Valentine’s Day may be this month’s most famous date (after all, it’s the second most celebrated day in the world – after New Year’s Day).
But there’s another day in February we should all remember, too.
Global Elections Day was conceived in 2005 when electoral experts from around the world met to strengthen democracy’s development. This year it falls on 7 February.
And while it won’t be a particularly well-publicised day, Global Elections Day will obviously be a poignant one for us here at Smartmatic.
Here’s why. We’ve helped count 1.5 billion audited votes. We’ve enabled over 8 million people to register. And we’ve run 3,500 national and regional elections in three different continents, sometimes through our important work with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
So we’d like to thank organisations like The Association of Central and Eastern European Electoral Officials (ACEEEO).
Not only did they first promote the idea of Global Elections Day. They also share our ideal of electoral transparency as the basic pillar of democracy.
Transparent elections are the only way we get governments where we have an equal say in the decisions that affect our lives. And isn’t that something we should all celebrate?