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Europe: Central & Eastern: Nonpartisan Domestic Election Monitoring

Overview
The countries of Central and Eastern Europe are undergoing a daunting but promising political transformation from communism to democracy. A primary element in this transition process is the creation of governing institutions representative of and responsible to citizens. Key to creating these institutions are democratic elections, without which a government cannot assume political legitimacy.

Starting with the first round of post-communist elections in 1989, NDI has worked to support domestic, nonpartisan monitoring of elections. While international election observation makes an important contribution to the integrity of an election process, the ability of citizens to monitor their own elections in a structured, professional, and nonpartisan manner is critical to building public confidence in the political process and in sustaining a democratic political system.

NDI assisted nonpartisan election monitoring organizations in 10 countries and republics throughout Central and Eastern Europe. While this assistance began with most organizations in their formative stage, it has continued in various ways as these and other organizations have grown into well-established and respected watchdog groups that promote citizen participation and policy advocacy.

Founded in the main by young people, these organizations have recruited, trained, and deployed hundreds and sometimes thousands of citizens to observe voting and tabulation procedures inside polling stations on election day and have produced public statements on the conduct of the elections.

They have also focused on the pre-election environment by, for example, holding candidate forums, conducting media monitoring, and developing party codes of conduct. Several of these organizations have multiethnic membership, demonstrating inclusiveness in a region scarred by ethnic conflict. Each is viewed in its respective country or republic as a leading authority on democratic elections standards.

The impact of their work is found in the rising levels of public confidence in election processes throughout the region. A recent poll in Croatia, for example, found that two-thirds of respondents believe that upcoming local elections will be fair and cited nonpartisan domestic election observation as a primary factor.

NDI election monitoring partners in Central and Eastern Europe are:

In recognition of the organizations' collective accomplishments, NDI hosted a roundtable in Budapest in July 2000 to identify best practices in 10 years of nonpartisan domestic election monitoring. Thirty participants representing 12 organizations attended. It was the first time that these organizations met to discuss lessons learned and future challenges. The roundtable has generated a considerable number of bilateral and multilateral exchanges among the groups, which are as eager to learn from each other as from the experiences of more developed democracies. A few examples:

Croatia's Citizens Organized to Monitor Elections assisted its Montenegrin counterpart-the Center for Democratic Transition-in election monitoring procedures. GONG recently received a delegation from the Kosova Action for Civic Initiatives.
Slovakia's Civic Eye, Romania's Pro-Democracy Association, and the Bulgarian Association for Fair Elections and Civil Rights supported the efforts of Serbia's Center for Free Elections and Democracy (Cesid) to monitor the September 2000 Yugoslav elections. All three organizations tried to monitor the elections and, like Cesid, were thwarted by strong and at times violent harassment by the Milosevic regime.
NDI has facilitated a visit to Kosovo by Cesid to ascertain how it might monitor upcoming elections for a Kosovar parliament in municipalities inhabited by ethnic Serbs as a means to boost participation in the elections.

At present, NDI is cooperating with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Institute's civic partners in the region ODIHR's effort to set forth guidelines for nonpartisan election monitoring in Central and Eastern Europe.

Some of the organizations are broadening their mandates to incorporate other areas of democratic political reform. GONG, for example, has begun a series of initiatives designed to make Croatia's parliament more accessible to the public - through instituting "citizens' hours," in which members of parliament discuss policy matters with constituents, and recently featured President (and MP) Stjepan Mesic. Cesid will be monitoring the work of local governments and reporting its findings to the public. Pro-Democracy has initiated a parliamentary internship program in which young people gain a direct understanding of Romania's legislative process. Albania's Society for Democratic Culture has brought together citizens and elected officials to discuss local affairs.

Although the need for election monitoring may ultimately dissipate, NDI's partner organizations are enabling their respective countries to build a strong, democratic, election processes, and they will continue to be at the vanguard as democratic political institutions develop and take root.

Contact Information
For more information on NDI's programs in Central & Eastern Europe, please contact:

Robert Benjamin, Regional Director
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Updated May 2001

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