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NDI

The National Democratic Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and accountability in government.

NDI Events

  • Changing gender politics in the Western Balkans was the theme that brought together eight young Balkan leaders to participate in a lively discussion co-hosted by NDI and the National Albanian American Council (NAAC).

    Topics ranging from gender quotas for elected office to social implications of gender equity were posed by NDI’s Aleksandra Pajevic, the Institute’s field director in Albania, who moderated the session called “Women in Government, Access to Power.”

  • NDI’s Regional Director for Eurasia Laura Jewett addressed the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also called the Helsinki Commission, on Kyrgyzstan’s July 23 presidential election. Jewett outlined several areas in which the government of Kyrgyzstan could take steps to improve the electoral environment, which would in turn help rebuild citizen confidence in the process.

  • On the occasion of the 64th birthday of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, NDI President Kenneth Wollack joined the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, U.S. Campaign for Burma and others to honor the incarcerated leader of Burma’s democratic opposition. Daw Suu Kyi, who has been in custody for 13 of the last 19 years, was sent to Rangoon’s notorious Insein Prison on May 14 on charges she violated the terms of her house arrest.

  • FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
    June 15, 2009

    Contact: Kathy Gest, kgest@ndi.org, 202-728-5535

    Young Women Meet in Morocco
    with Future Leadership in Mind

    RABAT – Twenty-five young women from across North Africa will convene in Rabat, Morocco, for leadership exercises over the next four days, hoping to carry the lessons learned back to their communities and into their futures.

  • Robert Benjamin, NDI’s Central and Eastern Europe Regional director, offered remarks on Albania’s upcoming June 28 parliamentary elections in the context of its democratic transition as part of a briefing hosted by the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe on June 4 and chaired by commission Co-Chairman U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL).

  • Tunisia will hold presidential and parliamentary elections in October 2009. President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, currently serving a fourth term after amending the constitution in 2004 to permit his candidacy, has pledged that the elections will be held in a transparent, democratic manner and will be monitored by independent observers from “international bodies” that have yet to be specified.

  • Representatives of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) visited NDI on May 21 to discuss the Forum’s work in Nigeria and areas of potential cooperation with the Institute. Topics discussed included: electoral reform, fiscal transparency and the important role played by state governments in Nigeria’s democratic development. The bipartisan delegation featured four Nigerian governors: Kwara State Gov. Bukola Saraki - chairman of the NGF; Bauchi State Gov. Isa Yuguda; Edo State Gov. Adams Oshiomhole; and Akwa-Ibom State Gov. Godswill Akpabio.

  • At an April 29 briefing, Ambassador Boden discussed the political situation in Georgia in the aftermath of last year’s conflict with the Russian Federation.

    Ambassador Boden served as head of the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission for the January 2008 presidential election and UN Special Representative of the Secretary General in Abkhazia from 1999 to 2002. During the briefing, he offered insights on Georgia’s democratic development and policy recommendations for the future.

    Susan Page, NDI’s regional director for Southern and East Africa, discusses current events in Sudan on Chicago Public Radio’s long-running global affairs program Worldview.

  • Paul Rowland, NDI’s senior resident director in Indonesia, focused on that country’s upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections during a briefing at the Institute on April 1.