NDI fielded two high-level international delegations to the historic elections in Ukraine and Tunisia. The parliamentary elections, both on Oct. 26, came at a critical time for both countries. You can read the findings from NDI's election observation missions below.

Ukraine

Despite internal conflict and foreign intervention, Ukraine conducted credible parliamentary elections that advanced the nation’s aspirations for democracy, independence and sovereignty, NDI's report said. While the elections were largely peaceful and orderly, the process was not without problems, but none of them appeared to undermine the credibility of the polls. Many Ukrainians were disenfranchised due to territory controlled by Russian-backed separatists. Other shortcomings included sporadic violence, intimidation and attempts to disrupt voting, some instances of voter bribery and smear campaigns in the media, insufficient promotion of women and inadequate campaign finance regulations. Read More »

Tunisia

Parliamentary elections carried out in Tunisia constituted a major step forward in the country’s democratic transition, NDI's observation delegation said. While the country's first democratic legislative elections had isolated irregularities and incidents, none appeared significant enough to affect the outcome in the districts where they occurred. “We have observed a historic moment for Tunisia, in which a new election administration successfully oversaw a process that included active participation from political parties, civil society, voters and the media,” said NDI President Kenneth Wollack. Read more »

African Youth Steer AU Agenda for High Level Dialogue

African Union (AU) leaders gathered in Senegal at a high level dialogue last week to discuss promoting a culture of peace across the continent. African youth helped set the agenda through regional consultations, surveys and a conference that brought young leaders from across Africa to Nairobi, Kenya, in September. By supporting these initiatives, NDI is supporting the efforts of the AU to develop a youth engagement strategy. Read more »

Task Force to Spearhead Community Response to Ebola in Liberia

In response to the worst outbreak of the Ebola virus in history, a group of civil society organizations in Liberia has established a task force to help coordinate efforts to prevent the spread of the disease. Its goal is to encourage quicker action at the community level, where responses have been slow. These organizations have worked closely with NDI in the past and will be carrying out their Ebola response efforts through NDI sub-grants funded by the Embassy of Sweden in Liberia. Read more »

New Tools Provide Guidance on Political Party Assistance Programming

NDI launched a toolkit to help organizations that work with political parties analyze party behavior, design more strategic interventions and improve the management of party assistance programs. Read more »

Tipping Point: Examining Democracy in Romania

Romania has come a long way in its democratic and economic development since the demise of the communist regime 25 years ago, but some essential transition issues are still being closed. An assessment of Romania's progress took place in Bucharest in September, which centered on a report by Corina Rebegea, an analyst for the Center for European Policy Analysis. NDI’s director for Central and Eastern Europe, Robert Benjamin, provides his assessment of the report. Read More »

Bosnian Civic Coalition Activates Citizen Oversight of General Elections

As Bosnia and Herzegovina prepared to go to the polls on Oct. 12, seven leading civil society organizations from across the country coalesced under the banner of “Pod Lupom – Koalicija za slobodne i postene izbore” (Under the Magnifying Glass – Coalition for Free and Fair Elections) – to mobilize broad-based citizen oversight of the election process. In fewer than five months, Pod Lupom undertook the most comprehensive and technically proficient election observation ever conducted in the country. Read more »

Music Icon 2face Idibia Leads Youth Campaign for Peaceful Nigerian Elections

Inspired by the belief that Nigeria’s greatest resource is its youth, a foundation sponsored by the musician 2face Idibia and a prominent civic organization, the Youngstars Development Initiative, have unveiled a nationwide youth get-out-the-vote campaign to encourage a peaceful process surrounding the country’s general elections next February. Read more »

Latin American Exchange on Violence Prevention Takes Local Ideas to International Forum

Municipal and federal government officials from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico traveled to Santa Tecla, El Salvador, in September to talk about some of their successes in reducing violence in their communities, where the rates of murder, kidnapping and extortion are some of the highest in the world. Read more »

Global Campaign to Open Legislatures Draws Broad Support

Civic activists and government reformers in more than 30 countries rallied behind open legislatures to promote values of transparency, inclusion and participation in the lawmaking process during the first-ever Global Legislative Openness Week (GLOW) Sept. 15 to 25. Read more »

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