By Geneive Abdo
Iran Analyst, The Century Foundation

Now that Iran’s presidential election has effectively boiled down to a close race between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and reformist challenger Mir-Hossein Mousavi, a struggle has emerged over whether a powerful outside force – the country’s militias, who primarily support Ahmadinejad – should be allowed to endorse a candidate and oversee the balloting on election day.

Lebanon’s June 7 election was fundamentally peaceful and well administered and should provide the basis for confidence in the electoral process, according to a statement issued by an NDI election observer mission. The delegation was composed of short- and long-term observers from 22 countries who were deployed throughout the country to offer an impartial assessment of the polls.

Excerpt from the preliminary statement offered by the delegation:

A now completed distribution program by NDI has put more than 265,000 radios in the hands of Southern Sudanese and residents of the Three Areas since the end of 2007. For Sudanese across the Lakes, Unity and Warap states, the nearly 65,000 radio, distributed in partnership with CHF International s provide access to civic education that was difficult to deliver to mass audiences in the past.

The four women elected to Kuwait’s parliament are listed here. The vote figures are initial returns, with ranking and vote totals subject to change as results are finalized.

Massouma Al Mubarak
1st District, first place, 14,247 votes

On May 16, 2005, the women of Kuwait, standing together, won a prize they had been working toward for years – the right to vote and run for election. On May 16, 2009, the promise of that achievement came to fruition. Four women, running competitive, professional campaigns, won seats in Kuwait’s 50-member parliament.