The keynote address of this year’s Geneva Democracy Week will be given by Mr. Gabriel Sterling. As Georgia’s election manager, he played a decisive role in the 2020 U.S. presidential election when he confirmed that the vote count favouring the Democratic Party was accurate. Indeed, despite being a Republican himself, he pushed back on and denounced Donald Trump’s request to “find” 11’870 Republican votes, which would have changed the final results in the state. Since then, Mr. Sterling has been facing political pressure, death threats, as well as extrordinary media attention. In his keynote address and in the debate that will follow, he will analyse how he came to be at the forefront of an effort to safeguard not only democratic institutions, but trust in democracy itself.

Gabriel Sterling is the Chief Operating Officer/Chief Financial Officer at Georgia Secretary of State. After graduating from Riverwood International Charter School and the University of Georgia, he began working in Republican Party politics as a volunteer. In 1998, he ran for the Georgia House of Representatives. He was elected to the Sandy Springs City Council, taking office in 2011. In 2019 Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger appointed him the COO of the Secretary of State's office after winning the 2018 election. Since 2021, Gabriel Sterling is also Chairman of the committee to review the Charter for the City of Sandy Springs to make recommendations to the Legislature.
 

Institutional welcome by:

• Yves Flückiger, Recteur de l’Université de Genève

• Michèle Righetti, Chancelière d’Etat de la République et canton de Genève

• Marie-Laure Salles, Directrice de l’Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement

This event is jointly organised by the Geneva Chancellery of State, the Graduate Institute’s Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy and the University of Geneva in the context of the Geneva Democracy Week.

Please note that a valid COVID certificate is required to access our events in person.