April 2011

Nigerian Elections Hold the Promise of Setting New Integrity Standard, NDI Mission Finds

Election official with National Assembly ballot at Lugbe polling station outside Abuja.

Nigeria's recent presidential and National Assembly elections "represent a step forward from seriously flawed elections of the past" and "hold the promise of setting a new standard for integrity in Nigeria's electoral process," NDI said in a preliminary statement after the presidential poll.

The Institute fielded international observer delegations for both the April 9 National Assembly elections

and the April 16 presidential poll. The first observation mission was co-led by Joe Clark, former Canadian prime minister; Mahame Ousmane, former president of Niger; Antonio Manuel Mascarenhas Monteiro, former president of Cape Verde;

Jon S. Corzine, former U.S. senator and governor of New Jersey;

Marietje Schaake, member of the European Parliament from the Netherlands; Natasha Stott Despoja, former senator from Australia; and Kenneth Wollack, president of NDI. Clark and Ousmane stayed on as co-leaders of the presidential observation mission and were joined by Robin Carnahan, secretary of state of Missouri; and Christopher Fomunyoh, NDI senior associate and regional director for Central and West Africa.

The delegations found that, despite problems, the elections gave Nigerians a real chance to vote, and they commended the millions of Nigerians who braved long lines and hot weather to participate.

A voter marks her presidential ballot in Abuja.

NDI also partnered with a coalition of four Nigerian civil society organizations in Project 2011 Swift Count, which fielded more than 8,000 observers to conduct a parallel vote tabulation (PVT) for the presidential and gubernatorial elections, held on April 26. A PVT is a sophisticated election observation tool used to assess the integrity of the vote and count, and verify official vote totals. Observers relayed their findings by SMS messages, which were then compiled and analyzed at Project Swift Count's headquarters in Abuja.

Project Swift Count issued an interim statement

after the presidential poll confirming the results announced by Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission. With the northern part of the country protesting the re-election victory of President Goodluck Jonathan, Project Swift Count

called upon all candidates and their supporters to "respect the will of the Nigerian people and to accept the results in good faith." They also asked that all political leaders "immediately and clearly make statements denouncing all acts of post-election violence."

NDI also partnered with the National Elections Incidents Center (NEIC), a coalition of three civil society groups doing citizen observation of the presidential election. The NEIC catalogued and mapped incidents and irregularities in the voting on election day. The center concluded that "the accreditation and voting process was smooth and peaceful" at the polling stations they observed.

NDI's mission in Nigeria builds on a pre-election assessment

conducted by the Institute in October. NDI has been working in Nigeria since 1999 and has fielded international observation missions to previous elections there in 1999,

2003

and 2007.

NDI Commemorates International Day of Roma with Film Featuring Music by Academy Award Winner Hans Zimmer

NDI celebrated the culture and achievements of the 10 million Roma, commonly called Gypsies, with a short public awareness film released on International Day of the Roma. The film, Who are the Roma?, is scored with original music by Hans Zimmer. Read more»

Watch the film»

Read more about NDI's work with the Roma»

'Future Women Mayors' Academy Kicks Off in Mexico

The Academy for Future Women Mayors kicked off last month in the Mexican state of Michoacán to combat the low rate of women seeking and winning office at the municipal level across the country. The academy helps provide women activists with the motivation, skills and networks to position themselves to win mayoral races. Read more»

In Guinea, Political Parties Strive to Improve its Next Elections

In Guinea, more than 40 political parties agreed to a set of principles aimed at making upcoming legislative elections — only the second competitive elections in the nation's history — less violent, more inclusive, more efficient and ultimately more democratic. Read more»

Albanian Women Finish Political Leadership School with Chance to Test New Skills in May Elections

Local elections on May 8 in Albania are an opportunity to put more women in public office in a country with one of the lowest percentages of elected women in Europe. That was the message delivered by Jozefina Topalli, Albania's speaker of parliament, to women who had just completed a 10-month program on campaign management, messaging and advocacy organized by NDI. Read more»

Contribute Now to Help Build Democratic Societies

When you contribute to NDI, our board of directors will generously match your gift dollar-for-dollar, up to $1 million. Contribute»

NDI Staff Member Seeks to Bring Women into Elections, Politics in Liberia

Mardia Greaves-Bloh visited the U.S. from Liberia for three months as NDI's latest Andi Parhamovich fellow. While in Washington, D.C., Bloh researched how civil society groups build coalitions and how to ensure that women's needs are considered and accomodated throughout the election process. She will use what she learned back in Liberia for presidential and legislative elections this year. Read more»

Read more about NDI's 2011 Liberian elections program»

Assessing Public Attitudes in Tunisia, Georgia, Burundi

NDI recently conducted focus group research in Tunisia with young people, the demographic that led the revolutionary movement that overthrew President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January. The research finds that young people are concerned about being sidelined in the transition process and have a lingering distrust of political parties. NDI is sharing these findings with Tunisian leaders in the transitional government, political parties and civil society to develop policies that are responsive to and inclusive of youth. Read more»

A recent poll conducted for NDI shows that economic and social issues are the major sources of concern for Georgians. Unemployment tops the list of those concerns, followed by rising prices. Respondents also felt that politicians were not doing enough to fix these problems. Read more»

Focus groups in Burundi, a country historically fraught with ethnic conflict between Hutus and Tutsis, show that citizens today are focused less on ethnic differences than on their regional, political and economic differences. They also continue to embrace the democratic process, despite politically motivated violence and an opposition party boycott of the 2010 elections. Read more»

Our Perspectives: Debates, Yemen, the Roma and Haiti

Don't miss these pieces by NDI staff:

Matt Dippell, debates program advisor, explains how a free press contributes to a culture of debate. Read more»

Les Campbell, director of Middle East and North Africa programs, talks to NPR's Morning Edition about the future for Yemen's President Saleh. Listen»

Catherine Messina Pajic, deputy director of Central and Eastern Europe programs, describes the plight of the Roma and ways you can help. Read more»

Jim Swigert, director of Latin American and Carribbean programs, looks at the challenges facing Haiti's new president in this speech he delivered at the U.S. Institute for Peace. Read more»

October 2010

Preparing for Election Day - Debating, Educating Assessing

Candidates greet the moderators before debating in Bosnia.

Though the voting part of an election usually takes just a day, months and sometimes years of preparation go into making it a success. There's the preparatory work by election commissions, organizing by political parties, choosing candidates, the campaign itself, training observers, educating and motivating the electorate to participate, and creating an atmosphere in which voters feel safe enough to go to the polls. In many countries where NDI works, the Institute and its partners are involved in one or more of these aspects of election day preparation. Here are some examples:

Leading up to the Oct. 3 general elections in Bosnia, NDI partnered with two major public television stations to present a series of candidate debates.

These events, along with a series of regional town-hall style meetings, were unique for focusing on issues, and the parties' stances on those issues, rather than personal or ethnic attacks and accusations.

As Egypt prepares for legislative elections in November, a new website, www.vote4egypt.com, conveys the importance of voting. It features promotional get out the vote videos, posters and message boards, where users can discuss topics such as how to get voter identification cards and where to vote on election day. The site is part of a larger civic participation effort by the nonpartisan Bridge Center for Dialogue and Development, an NDI partner organization.

A trainer gives a presentation about her political party in Kyrgyzstan.

Before Kyrgyzstan's Oct. 10 parliamentary elections, NDI worked with women candidates and party members seeking to learn new skills needed to be effective candidates, and for gaining leadership roles within their parties.

In preparation for Afghanistan's Sept. 18 parliamentary elections, NDI conducted orientation sessions for more than 1,700 candidates (68 percent of the total), organized training for political parties, ran campaign schools for more than 240 women candidates (62 percent of the total) and provided technical assistance to FEFA, the country's largest domestic election monitoring organization. It also trained more than 36,000 candidate agents across the country to report on election day activities.

In addition to its work with local partners, NDI takes part in pre-election assessments. Recently in Jordan,

Ukraine and Nigeria, the Institute has fielded high-level delegations that have met with election officials, ruling and opposition political figures, civil society groups, journalists and others to assess the electoral environment and recommend short- and long-term improvements in the electoral process.

In Haiti, Citizens Voice Ideas and Concerns about Rebuilding

Haiti's Action Plan for National Recovery and Development is a blueprint aimed at helping Haitians rebuild and overcome the challenges posed by last January's earthquake. To ensure that citizens and local government officials have an opportunity to contribute their own ideas, initiative committees across Haiti are holding meetings to solicit advice from citizens. Read more»

Despite Violence, Voters in Afghanistan Show Commitment to Democratic Process

Although violence marred the electoral process in many parts of the country, millions of Afghans turned out to vote in legislative elections Sept. 18, showing courage and resolve to move their nation toward a more democratic future. NDI's observers released a preliminary statement lauding Afghans for their commitment to democracy while drawing attention to a number of problems with the electoral process. Read more»

New Publications Encourage Women's Political Participation

In many countries, women who want to get involved in politics lack the role models and resources to help them pursue their goals. Two new publications seek to meet those needs and encourage more women to get involved in the political process.

Aimed at young women from the Middle East and North Africa region, Confidence, Capacity, Connections: A Young Woman's Guide to Leadership is a workbook that combines ideas, strategies and advice from experts on pursuing a political career. Read more»

In Bangladesh, Who's Who: Women Leaders at a Glance profiles 134 Bangladeshi women and is designed to provide inspiration and role models to other women aspiring to leadership roles. Read more»

Iraqi National Youth Caucus Works to Turn Youth Priority Issues into Policy Changes

As Iraqis work to create a new government, a group of young people is working to perfect the civic advocacy skills they need to influence how policy is made. Members of Iraq's National Youth Caucus (NYC) came together recently to discuss their strategies for ongoing advocacy campaigns for improving high school and college education and combating the high rate of youth unemployment. Read more»

Central American Leaders See Transparency as Key to Public Security

In El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, more than three quarters of the population thinks public safety is the greatest problem facing the region. Recently, leaders from government, political parties, business, academia and civil society came together to discuss the link between transparency and security in Central America.  At the NDI-supported event, the 150 participants identified and agreed on concrete actions to fight corruption and increase transparency. Read more»

New Partnerships Strive for More Inclusive, Stronger Parliaments

NDI recently signed two memoranda of understanding (MoU) that seek to strengthen parliaments and make them more accountable and inclusive.

In Kenya, NDI and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association signed an MoU to collaborate on efforts to enhance representative government around the world. The association is a group of national and subnational legislatures of the Commonwealth, representing some two billion citizens from all faiths and ethnicities from six continents. Read more»

The MoU signed by NDI and the Guatemalan Congress will allow the two to create initiatives to improve the representation of indigenous people and women in Guatemala's government and to reform laws governing elections and political parties. Read more»