After eight years with a government led by the Democratic Party (DP), Albanians voted resoundingly for change in elections on June 23. With counting completed on June 26, the leftist coalition Alliance for a European Albania, led by the Socialist Party (SP), scored a clear victory over the DP-led coalition Alliance for Employment, Welfare and Integration, winning 84 out of 140 seats. Voters will now be looking to the SP-led government to deliver on its campaign promises in the face of an increased demand for accountable and responsive government.

Citizens’ increasing use of technology and social media presents both opportunities and challenges for the world’s parliaments.

Many parliaments, like the Brazilian Congress, are seeking to use technology to engage citizens in the legislative process in new ways. Its e-democracia website allows citizens to comment on legislation anywhere there is Internet access.

Testifying at a House hearing on Egypt’s decision to convict 43 individuals who worked for five nongovernmental organizations, NDI President Kenneth Wollack said “they should be praised, not prosecuted for the work they did to support Egyptian democracy.”

Egypt's actions, Wollack said June 12 at a hearing of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, "were driven by politics and an unshakeable opposition to democratic development."