Citizens’ increasing use of technology and social media presents both opportunities and challenges for the world’s parliaments.

Many parliaments, like the Brazilian Congress, are seeking to use technology to engage citizens in the legislative process in new ways. Its e-democracia website allows citizens to comment on legislation anywhere there is Internet access.

Testifying at a House hearing on Egypt’s decision to convict 43 individuals who worked for five nongovernmental organizations, NDI President Kenneth Wollack said “they should be praised, not prosecuted for the work they did to support Egyptian democracy.”

Egypt's actions, Wollack said June 12 at a hearing of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, "were driven by politics and an unshakeable opposition to democratic development."

قراءة البيان باللغة العربية

The National Democratic Institute (NDI) is shocked and deeply distressed by the unjust conviction June 4 of its employees on trial in Egypt and those of the International Republican Institute, Freedom House, the International Center for Journalists and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. The work of these 43 individuals to strengthen and support democracy in Egypt should be commended, not prosecuted. The verdict also has a chilling effect on the important efforts of civil society in Egypt.

In Mexico’s national congress, a ban on serving consecutive terms often makes it difficult for legislators to build on their experience in office or forge strong relationships with their constituents.