Mexico’s gender quota system has made a significant difference for women seeking election to the Mexican Congress. In the last 15 years, the percentage of seats occupied by women has increased from 10 to 26 percent.  

But at the municipal level, women have not had such success. The number of women mayors in the country averages 5.5 percent, and in some areas the percentages are smaller. An example is the Mexican state of Michoacán, on the central western coast, which elected just three women mayors in its 113 municipalities.

As Guinea prepares for legislative elections at the end of this year — only the second competitive polls ever held in the country — political parties are working hard to expand voter registration, select candidates more democratically, and improve outreach to rural party members and constituents. These principles were among the recommendations put forward by more than 40 Guinean political parties following a month of consultations about their experiences from the country’s first campaign last year.

A recent focus group study by NDI finds that in Burundi, a country historically fraught with ethnic conflict between Hutus and Tutsis, citizens today express little apprehension about current or future ethnic strife. Instead, it is regional, political, and economic differences that divide Burundians. And, despite politically-motivated violence and an opposition party boycott of 2010 elections, Burundians still embrace democracy and see elections as the best means for choosing their country’s leaders.