Patrick Merloe, NDI director of electoral programs, testified July 9 before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific. Representative Steve Chabot, chairman of the subcommittee, presided over the hearing, “Cambodia’s Looming Political and Social Crisis.”

Other witnesses included John Sifton, director of Asia Advocacy for Human Rights Watch; Evi Schueller, legal consultant for the Cambodian League for the Promotion of Defense of Human Rights; and Daniel Mitchell, chief executive officer and managing director for SRP International Group.

Some 39 countries have signed the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG), created by the African Union (AU) in 2007 as a roadmap to encourage better governance across the continent. It sets out international standards of good governance and democracy in such areas as rule of law, free and fair elections, and condemning unconstitutional changes of government.