On July 8, 2010, the Institute for Public Affairs (IVO) organized an international seminar Free Elections 20 Years After: The Splendor and Misery of the Central European Dream, aimed at the reflection of political, economic, and foreign policy implications of the 2010 elections in Visegrad countries.

The seminar was supported by the International Visegrad Fund (IVF). IVO has cooperated on the project with the Institute of Public Affairs (Warsaw), STEM Research Agency (Prague) and Central European University (CEU, Budapest).

Political and sociological experts all four Visegrad countries analyzed the context and results of the parliamentary elections in Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia, and of the presidential elections in Poland. The papers from the seminar will be published in a book.

Despite the holiday season, the event attracted attention of more than 50 people from the ranks of diplomats, scholars, journalists and students.

Download: Program of the Seminar


Participants of the first panel Election results in V4 countries: background and implications. From the left: Gergo Medvé-Bálint, CEU, Budapest; Jan Hartl, STEM, Prague; moderator of the panel Martin Bútora, IVO; Ben Stanley, a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Training Network participant at IVO, and the IVO president Grigorij Mesežnikov.



Speakers on the second panel Slovakia after the election: challenges and consequences were Zora Bútorová, Oľga Gyárfášová, Peter Učeň, Soňa Szomolányi and Vladimír Krivý. The discussion was led by Grigorij Mesežnikov.



The audience of the seminar.