Free and fair elections are a necessary condition for the existence of democracy. Democracy is the power of the people, but before the people start exercising power here, they must entrust their representatives with fulfilling this demanding task. There is no other way to do this than to elect these representatives in fair elections and give them unquestionable legitimacy with which they will fulfill their mandate. 

Representatives of civil society discussed how this axiom can be turned into reality at the Slovak Alternative Summer 2026 festival. The event took place in Ábelová on July 31 - 2. August 2026, it was organized by several organizations and civic initiatives (NOT IN OUR CITY and FAIR ELECTIONS in cooperation with local initiatives, independent cultural space BOMBURA Brezno and ZÁHRADA - center of independent culture Banská Bystrica), co-organizer was also Institute for Public Affairs. 





The discussion on fair elections was attended by the IVO president Grigorij Mesežnikov, together with Csilla Droppová (Not in our city - Banská Bystrica and Fair Elections), Timotej Lauko (Civil Community), Peter Tatár (Civil Community), Marína Gálisová (weekly .týždeň), Miroslava Čierna (Rimavská kaviareň) and representatives of political parties (PS, KDH and Democrats). The main topic of the discussion was civic control of the electoral process.