Kenyan citizens overwhelmingly approved a new constitution in a peaceful and credible referendum last week, according to a preliminary statement released by the Elections Observation Group (ELOG), a coalition of civic and faith-based Kenyan organizations.

After the violence that marred the 2007 elections, the successful August 4 referendum was celebrated as Kenyans ratified a new constitution that provides checks and balances on the president, establishes a bill of rights, transfers some powers from the central government to the regions and addresses land distribution issues.

The importance of democracy support was the subject of a dynamic discussion this summer by a broad array of policymakers from both sides of the Atlantic who met in Washington, D.C., for the first installment of a dialogue aimed at bolstering cooperation on democracy and human rights between the European Union (EU), the United States and the broader transatlantic community.  The dialogue took place as the administration seeks to recalibrate the U.S. approach to democracy support and as the EU seeks to build greater coherence on democracy assistance policy among its member states.

The number of Lebanese women elected to municipal offices more than doubled this year, increasing from the 201 elected in 2004 to 530 who were successful in this year’s polls. The increase was particularly noteworthy because it came without the help of a quota law, a technique used in a number of countries in the Middle East and elsewhere to ensure a specified number of seats for women.