Millions of people around the world who have organized to monitor elections in their own countries often must brave difficult conditions and personal risk in a quest for responsive and transparent governance. While they share many goals and practices, they have not had a way, on their own, to connect with one another and benefit from the knowledge of their counterparts. Instead, they have relied on organizations such as NDI to help them share lessons and experiences.
The West African Election Observers Network, a coalition of election monitors, officially launched in Abuja, Nigeria on Monday, February 21. NDI played a key role in the creation of the network.
A coalition of four prominent Nigerian civil society groups — the Federation of Muslim Women’s Associations in Nigeria, Justice Development and Peace/Caritas Nigeria, the Nigerian Bar Association and the Transition Monitoring Group — have come together to form Project 2011 Swift Count to monitor the election process and verify the official results, hoping that their independent effort will deter fraud and help restore public trust in the country's upcoming local, legislative and presidential elections.
Jay Solomon discusses how the Obama administration, in an effort not to alienate Mubarak, chose to pursue its democracy promotion agenda in Egypt through private talks rather than tough public rhetoric, despite warnings from the Egypt Working Group that the country was headed toward transition.
NDI's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, Les Campbell, comments on the dim prospects for free and fair elections in Egypt under the leadership of Vice President Omar Suleiman.
Frishta Amini (left) and Farida Hamidi (right) from Nimroz province