With the 2nd U.S. presidential debate as a backdrop, 25 visitors from 12 countries came to Hofstra University in New York in mid-October to exchange information about putting on debates in their own countries and witness first-hand the intricacies of organizing the Oct. 16 matchup between President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney.

Serbian politics in the past decade have been characterized largely as a contest between pro-western democrats and revisionist nationalists, as the country sought to remake itself as a stable democracy after the disastrous rule of Slobodan Milosevic ended in 2000. The 2008 victory of pro-European Boris Tadic and his Democratic Party (DS) heralded a repudiation of the Milosevic era and opened a path toward eventual membership in the European Union (EU).

Before heading to the polls to elect local representatives on June 3, Cambodian voters learned about political parties’ platforms at 10 public debates held around the country. Cambodia has 1,633 commune councils – a governing body with five to 11 members responsible for the oversight of land use, licensing and development for approximately 10 villages. In this predominantly rural nation, commune councils serve an important role in establishing trust at the local level between government and citizens.

Voters in several areas of Peru will head to the polls on Dec. 5 to take part in run-off elections for department presidential candidates who did not achieve the required 30 percent of the vote during first-round elections Oct. 3. Ten departments — or states — will hold runoffs for the top two candidates.

Haitians will go to the polls Nov. 28 to select a new president and parliament to lead the nation's reconstruction and recovery from the Jan. 12 earthquake that claimed 230,000 lives and left 1.5 million people displaced.