In May, Montenegrins voted in a nationwide referendum to end their union with Serbia. For the first time, SMS text messaging technology was used to help safeguard the vote by enabling observers to report results almost instantly from polling stations throughout the country.

When Palestinians went to the polls in January, nearly every one of the 1,008 polling stations in the West Bank and Gaza had been mapped using Global Positioning System satellite technology. Thanks to a pilot Geographic Information Systems (GIS) project conducted over the past year, NDI created a "smart map" of the West Bank and Gaza that allows users to search, edit and analyze observation information and election results at polling stations throughout the Palestinian territories.

For the first time, a common set of principles for professional, impartial and effective election observation has been adopted by more than 20 organizations involved in monitoring elections around the world.

The Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation and the Code of Conduct for International Election Observers are aimed at better insuring the integrity of international election observation.