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.

The library consists of a collection containing more than 2,500 volumes and 200 periodical subscriptions (both paper and electronic). The collection relates principally to international issues, and is augmented by functional categories such as local government, civil-military affairs and other matters tied to the Institute’s core programs. The book collection is catalogued according to the Library of Congress standard and is available only to NDI staff.

In anticipation of Nov. 30 presidential elections in Côte d’Ivoire, NDI, the UN mission in Abidjan and the Ivorian electoral commission co-led negotiations on a code of conduct for Ivorian political parties. The code was adopted April 24 during a signing ceremony attended by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Hopes that Kenya’s last elections on December 27, 2007, would be seen as a model for African democracies were dashed within 48 hours of the vote when violence erupted amid charges of election result manipulation.

The challenges facing democracies to spur economic growth, protect human rights and improve people’s lives was the subject of the first plenary session at the 2008 World Movement for Democracy (WMD) Assembly, held in Kyiv, Ukraine, in April.

NDI organized the plenary, which featured a panel discussion involving Alejandro Toledo, former president of Peru and president of the Global Center for Development and Democracy; Roland Rich, executive head of the United Nations Democracy Fund; and Ayo Obe, chairman of the WMD. NDI President Kenneth Wollack was the moderator.