​As Nigeria prepares for national polls next year, a new website, the first of its kind, uses infographics and maps to present the findings of citizen observers from the country’s 2011 presidential elections.

The site was created by the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), Nigeria’s largest citizen election observation organization, with assistance from NDI. TMG’s parallel vote tabulation (PVT), or “quick count” in 2011 deployed trained observers to polling stations across the country to verify official results during a time when both Nigerians and the international community were concerned about the possibility of electoral misconduct.

The interactive website provides data from TMG’s 2011 citizen monitors, and serves as a tool for both a voter education and for the public to measure improvements in Nigeria’s electoral process.

“It’s setting a really powerful precedent for citizen efficacy and engagement,” said Pat Merloe, NDI senior associate and director for electoral programs. Read more »

Legislatures and Civil Society Join Forces to Open Democratic Decision-Making

With the goal of making parliaments around the world more open and accessible to citizens, the Legislative Openness Working Group of the Open Government Partnership​, co-chaired by NDI and the Congress of Chile,​ launched a campaign earlier this month to help countries share tools and strategies for engaging tech-empowered ​constituents. ​T​he Global Legislative Openness Week (GLOW), which began on the International Day of Democracy, Sept. 15, encouraged countries to develop concrete commitments to ​l​egislat​ive transparency. Read more»

Tunisia on Democratic Path, But Must Keep Partisanship Out of Election Process

A pre-election assessment mission organized by NDI and the International Republican Institute (IRI) reported that the country appears to be on a decidedly democratic path since the beginning of its political transition in 2011. But to maintain public confidence, it must ensure parliamentary and presidential elections this fall are free of undue partisan interference and manipulation, the delegation said. Read more»

Moldovans Want More Communication from Elected Officials, Poll Says

According to recent public opinion polling by NDI, pro-Russian sentiment among citizens declined by 18 percent between February and June of this year, while economic issues such as unemployment, corruption and poverty are among the top concerns for Moldovans. But a majority also believes the government needs to communicate better with citizens on issues that matter to them, from the economy to its European Union Association Agreement. Read more»

NDI Welcomes New Board Members

Pictured above: The NDI Board of Directors held a meeting in Jordan in 2013.

NDI announced this month the addition of five new members to its board of directors. They are former U.S. Senator Edward “Ted” Kaufman of Delaware; Ambassador Karl Inderfurth, former U.S. assistant secretary of state for South Asian Affairs; Tamara Cofman Wittes, director of the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution; James O’Brien, vice chair of the Albright Stonebridge Group and former presidential envoy for the Balkans; and Mary Cathryn Ricker, executive vice president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Read more »

Robust and Public Review Needed for Afghan Electoral Reform

NDI welcomes the conclusion of the 2014 presidential electoral process and commends the new government’s plan to form a special commission on electoral reform. In addition to the appraisal of reforms needed to prevent the recurrence of abuses in future elections, the Afghan people deserve a full and public account of the 2014 electoral process, including timely release of all data related to the runoff audit. The review of the 2014 electoral process should include a thorough inquiry into the vulnerabilities that allowed high levels of fraud to take place, and the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for it. Read more

Ukraine Can Overcome Challenges to Democratic Parliamentary Elections

The integrity of Ukraine’s Oct. 26 parliamentary elections will depend on Ukrainians taking concerted, proactive steps to compensate for weaknesses in its electoral framework and embracing new political practices, NDI said in a pre-election assessment report released Sept. 19. “Never before has Ukrainian democracy held so much promise and faced so many obstacles at once,” the delegation said. Read more»

Guinea Wins with Women

Last year's legislative elections in Guinea marked a major milestone for the country as the first competitive, multi-party polls for National Assembly since ​the country gained independence in 1958​. But women’s representation in elections still lags behind. To help ​them overcome barriers to participation, women from six political parties came together in Conakry to assess their parties' inclusion of women, and steps they can take to increase the number of women candidates. Read more»

Russian Court Overturns Foreign Agent Status of Russian Election Watchdog

The Moscow City Court has overturned a Russian government decision labeling the Golos Association, Russia’s preeminent election monitoring group, a “foreign agent.” Golos documented widespread fraud during Russia’s 2011 parliamentary and 2012 presidential elections. In 2013, Golos was fined for failure to declare itself under a 2012 "Foreign Agent Law" for receiving foreign funding and conducting loosely-defined “political activity.” Throughout the process, Golos has maintained that it had ceased to receive foreign funding after the passage of the law. Read more»

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