Somali citizens are eager for peace and security to prevail in their country. They favor a strong national government based on Islamic law, and they see clan divisions as perpetuating the ongoing conflict. They are also evenly divided on the merits of democracy as a political system.

The 15 countries that make up the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have been working since 2008 to achieve parity in women's political participation by 2015. It's a goal from the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, which sets out ways to achieve gender equality through legislation and affirmative action. Some countries have made great strides toward achieving equal numbers of elected men and women, one measure of parity, but Zambia and Lesotho are lagging far behind.

Women candidates enjoyed record levels of success in Jordan's Nov. 9 parliamentary elections. The country's new election law doubled the women's quota from six to 12 seats, and for the first time, a woman candidate from Amman won her seat outside of the quota system by amassing the largest number of votes in her district.

There were other firsts as well. Six of Jordan's 12 governorates elected the first women representatives from their region, and Myassar Sardiyah became the first Bedouin woman ever to be elected to parliament in Jordan.

Conducting credible elections in Nigeria will not be easy, but delivering vast improvements over past elections is vital to the country's democratic development, the chairman of Nigeria's independent electoral commission told an audience at NDI on Dec. 6.