Disinformation, hate speech and fake news continue to grow as threats to open and democratic societies around the world, and are among the pressing issues that the National Democratic Institute (NDI) is addressing in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. In Libya, NDI recently launched a multi-platform campaign in partnership with the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides to raise awareness on disinformation and hate speech among youth at the local level.

On April 11, 2021, Guillermo Lasso, businessman and member of the Creating Opportunities Movement (CREO) party won the Ecuadorian presidency with 52 percent of the vote in a process that was seen by its citizens as a more transparent, free and fair election.

In June 2021, NDI launched a new website - ElectionsData.ge - that presents the final results, voter turnout, and other data from every Georgian election since 2008. The site presents public election and voter data, generously provided to NDI by Georgia’s Central Election Commission, to allow Georgian and English-language users to explore, analyze, and present Georgian election data through maps, graphs and downloadable formats. 

NDI has been monitoring the dynamic online political environment in Moldova in the aftermath of Maia Sandu’s victory in the November 2020 presidential elections. President-elect Sandu campaigned on an explicit pro-EU and anti-corruption platform and has been a frequent target of hate speech and disinformation/misinformation attacks since her rise to political prominence several years ago.