As part of the Civic Tech Leadership Program funded by the Aspen Institute Stevens Initiative, NDI and the Institute for Representative Government hosted a live virtual town hall on December 1, in which former Members of the U.S. Congress spoke to over 150 young leaders located in the Middle East, North Africa  (MENA) and United States. Former Reps.

Ukraine’s parliament (Verkhovna Rada) is in a race to deliver the sweeping democratic reforms demanded by Ukrainians during the Revolution of Dignity. However, faced with an economic crisis and ongoing war, parties in parliament have struggled to enact these policies. Current legislative procedures and fragmented political dynamic among parliamentary factions have only compounded the challenges of pushing through changes.

Days after Haitians went to the polls to vote on November 20, more than 130 members of the Haitian Parliament and staff met to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the institution and lay out a roadmap for moving forward.

Leaders from across West Africa met in Cabo Verde last month to discuss regional guidelines for democratic handovers of power after democratic elections. The November 21-22 gathering represented a significant and timely effort to begin developing international norms and standards around executive branch transitions.

Yesterday marked a global day of recognition of the challenges faced by migrants around the world -- International Migrants Day. This year, Syrian refugees and mass migration in Central America has made migration a constant feature on the front pages of the world's newspapers. Facing increased pressure from migration, some countries have sought to close their borders or brand migrants as criminals. In September 2016, after nearly two months of debate, the Guatemalan Congress approved a new Migrant Code for the country.

Macedonia’s voters came out in large numbers in parliamentary elections on December 11 in a bid to stem a prolonged political crisis that has effectively stopped the political process and upended the country’s bid to join the European Union and NATO. With turnout at approximately 70 percent, citizens voted in six election districts and for 120 members of parliament in what domestic and international observers, including NDI’s Macedonian citizen observation partner, MOST, described as an orderly voting process, albeit not problem-free.

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On November 29th, the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) co-hosted a bipartisan event to explore the challenges to international democracy and U.S. foreign policy. Entitled a Bipartisan Celebration of Democracy, the discussion was particularly well-timed in the wake of one of the most divisive U.S. elections in recent memory, and with forces pushing back against democracy around the world.

Elections in the United States are unique -- not only due to the decentralized election framework and history of campaigning, but also for the impact that presidential results in particular have around the world. This year Americans cast their votes for 469 members of Congress and 6,064 state-level elected leaders, in addition to dozens of ballot measures in individual states.