What we’re up to
Electoral Observation Declaration adopted at the UN
TheGlobal Declaration of Principles and Code of Conduct for InternationalElectoral Observationwas adopted at a ceremony at the headquarters ofthe United Nations inNew York on 27 October addressed by UNSecretary-General Kofi Annan, former US President Jimmy Carter andformer US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
IDEA has contributed from the beginning to this process, led by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the Carter Center.
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KofiAnnan, (front row, 7th from the right), and representatives from theorganisations that crafted the Declaration, at the United Nations, inNew York.
Mapping the field of political party aid
The seminar “International Cooperation and Political Parties in Latin America” was organized 26-27 September in Madrid by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI), the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperationand IDEA. The aim of the event was to engage academics, political partyleaders and cooperation representatives in collective analysis on thesituation ofpolitical parties in the Region and to lay the ground workfor enhanced coordination between actors in the field.
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Is democracy in Indonesia on track?
Morethan 50 people examined Indonesian democracy efforts during a 20 Sept.seminar on“Indonesian Politics: 60 Years’ Journey toward Independence,Democracy,National Development, and Regional Autonomy”, held at IDEA headquartersin Stockholm. Organized by IDEA and the Embassy of Indonesia in Sweden,the seminar sought to increase the Swedish audience’s knowledge andinterest in the Indonesian democratization process.
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Women candidates build skills in Peru
Thehelp level the playing field for women planning to run for the PeruvianCongress in the 2006 general election, IDEA — along with theInternational RepublicanInstitute and the Asociación Civil Transparencia — held five workshops throughout the country in October to help potential candidates network and build campaigning skills.
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Participants in the workshop on campaigning skills that was held in Piura, Peru, October 2005.
Making impact
Spreading BRIDGE
When the BRIDGE(Building Resourcesin Democracy, Governance and Elections) curriculumwas designed back in 1999, IDEA, the Australian Electoral Commissionand the United Nations Election Assistance Division probably didn'tforesee its success: 1,500 people in 14 countries have studied BRIDGE,a capacity-development course for election administrationprofessionals. Today, it exists in seven languages and covers topicssuch as electoral systems, public outreach, voter registration, votecounting, and electoral observers.
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Research
Study reveals difficulties faced by Andean political parties
Anunpublished studyof political party and electoral systems in Bolivia,Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela reveals a series of challengesfor political partiesin the Andean countries. “These are five countriesin which democraticlife has become particularly fragile, and which arealso engaged in along and complicated effort at integration”, saidRafael Roncagliolo, director of IDEA’s political reform project in theAndean region.
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New products
IDEA involved in local democracy project in Haiti
IDEA will support democracy at the local level in Haiti by developing a training curriculum to assess the state of local democracy in the country. The training curriculum will be implemented in several communities of Haiti, in partnership with civil society organizations.The conflict-ridden Caribbean country is suffering from governance crises, particularly at the level of its decentralized territorial entities, provinces (departments) and communes. IDEA’s Goran Fejic,head of the democracy building and conflict management team, visited Haiti 5-10 Sept. and met with more than 30 political leaders and civil society activists. He also met with island representatives from the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, the United Nations Development Programme and the Organization of American States. In the northern city of Cap Haitien, Fejic discussed local democracy issues with members of local non governmental organizations and the Association of Former Mayors.
Voter Turnout builds a community
IDEAhas setup a community of practice on political knowledge andparticipation of young people and civic education. This initiativeresulted froman IDEA-sponsored seminar on Civic Education and YouthParticipationheld in Budapest in September 2005.
The community of practice is part of IDEA’s work on voter turnout. To join, visit: www.idea.int/vt/intro.cfm
Books
Democracia en la region andina
In IDEA’s latest book, Democracia en la Región Andina: los telones de fondo,13 analysts of political and electoral systems examine aspects ofdemocratic life inthe Andean region and provide some guideposts forfuture action. Theessays include an overview of how citizens'perceptions of and attitudes toward democracy have evolved over thepast decade and an assessment of Andean party systems, including anexamination of why they have been supplanted by authoritarian leadersin some countries but not in others.The book also features a synopsisof the inner workings of the region’s parties, including candidateselection, party and election financing,and obstacles to and effects ofincreased political participation by women and indigenous people.
Available in Spanish, Democracia en la Región Andina: los telones de fondo can be ordered from IDEA’s Web site (www.idea.int)
Democracy in the Arab world - Arabic
IDEAreleased recently the Arabic version of three country reports compilingthe findings of its project, “Democracy in the Arab World,” for Jordan, Egypt and Yemen.For each country, the reports provide comparative analysis andinformation onthree interconnected themes: women’s politicalparticipation, political party development, and electoral systemreform. All three reports are also available in English. A synthesisreport, Democracy in the Arab World – An Overview of the International IDEA Project, is also available in English and Arabic. To order the reports, visit IDEA’s Web site (www.idea.int)
Constitutional reform - Nepal
In Katmandu, IDEA and Law Associates Nepal jointly launched The Future of the Nepalese Constitution on 2 Oct.
M.NilambarAcharya, former cabinet minister for law, justice and parliamentaryaffairs, and M. Kedar Nath Upadhyaya, former chief of justice of theSupreme Court ofNepal, attended the launch, together with over 70Nepalese lawyers, advocates, political scientists and political leaders.
Thebook looks at Nepal’s constitutional process and lessons learned fromother countries in which constitutional reform was carried out inanenvironment of political crisis and conflict. Topics includeparticipatory constitution building in Nepal, the roots of thefiveNepalese constitutions between 1947 and1990, and possible modalities toovercome Nepal’s current political impasse.
Available in English and Nepali, The Future of Nepalese Constitution can be ordered from IDEA’s Web site (www.idea.int).
Networking
Peruvians share consensus-building experience with Bolivian counterparts
The National Accord,the consensus-building process that grew out of Peru’s electoral crisisin 2000, may serve as anexample for neighboring Bolivia, which has hadthree presidents in thepast two years and where elections scheduled forDecember are in doubt.
A Peruvian delegation visited Bolivia18-21 Sept. to discuss lessons about leadership and consensus-buildinglearned through the experience of theNational Accord. The visit waspart of a project sponsored by IDEA and the Club de Madrid, with funding from the European Commission and the Corporación Andina de Fomento.
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Fromthe Peruvian delegation, and from left to right: Guido Galli andKristen Sample, bothfrom IDEA, Andres Torrez from Club de Madrid,Acuerdo Nacional TechnicalSecretary Max Hernandez, CGTP Rep EduardoCastillo, APRA Secretary General Jorge del Castillo, Ambassador LuzmilaZanabria, CONFIEP Rep Raul Castro and Maria Cecilia Rozas Ponce de Leonfrom the Peruvian Embassy.
Challenges to democratization in the Arab world
IDEAtookpart in the “International Colloquium on Political Pluralism andElectoral Processes” held 1-3 Oct. in Rabat, Morocco. The colloquiumbrought together more than 400 participants, including representativesof governments, parliaments, political parties, non governmentalorganizations, media and academics. The audience came from the MiddleEast, North Africa, and G8 countries.
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Did You Know?
All IDEA books are available on our website www.idea.int, in pdf format. For inquiries, please contact publications@idea.int
The Chilean Congressapproved on16 Aug. a set of constitutional reforms to the 1980Constitution.The reforms suppress appointed and lifetime senators infavour of afully elected Congress. They also eliminate all provisionsgiving apolitical role to the military and enhance the Congress’ powerversus the Executive Branch. Check out IDEA’s programmeonconstitution-building processes, which includes a case study on the Chilean constitutional reform.
IDEA participated in the Gothenburg (Sweden) Book Fair28Sept.-2Oct., Started in 1985, the annual event is the most importantmeeting place for literature in the Nordic countries. IDEA hosted twopresentations: “Electing Women – The Impact of Different ElectoralSystems”, based on IDEA’s revised edition of itsbest-seller Electoral System Design, and “Constitution Building in Post-Conflict and Transitional Settings”.
Happy Anniversary, IDEA!The Governmentof the Republic of Botswana hosted a reception on 22Sept.to celebratethe Institute’s 10th anniversary. Minister of ForeignAffairs and International Cooperation Lieutenant-General MompatiMerafhe hosted theevent. More than 100 people wished IDEA well,including cabinet members, parliamentarians, diplomats, civil societyrepresentatives and journalists. Cassam Uteem, former Mauritianpresident and current IDEA board member, and Abdalla Hamdok, regionaldirector for Africa andthe Middle East, represented the Institute.
Botswana Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon M Merafhe at IDEA´s 10th anniversary celebration.
IDEA's 10th anniversary was also the occasion for celebrations at its Peruoffice, in Lima. Kristen Sample, IDEA's director for the Andeanregion, Pepi Patrón, the president of Asociación Civil Transaparencia,LourdesFlores Nano, member of IDEA's Board and Allan Wagner, Secretary General of the Andean Community of Nations made presentations on IDEA’swork over the past decade and its collaboration with their respectiveorganisations.
Over 100 guests attended the celebrations, notably government ministers, the ambassadors from Finland, Panama,Bolivia and Spain, congressmen, representatives of the United Nations Development Programme and the Organization of American States, andinternational cooperation agencies.
KristenSample with Bolivian Ambassador in Peru Eloy Avila and DirectorGeneralof the Comunidad Andina de Naciones Antonio Aranibar
IDEA is engaging about 300 political parties inself-assessing nationaland regional dialogues, covering altogether 60countries in LatinAmerica, with a particular focus on Andean countries,in Central andEastern Europe, South Asia and in Southern, West and EastAfrica. Theregulatory regimes are surveyed in a total of 75 countries.The researchlooks into the internal functioning of political parties –leadershipstructure and role of the membership, internaldemocracy,representationof women – as well as the external regulationsand environment thatshape their work.
Preliminary findings fromthis research haveidentified challenges and reform ideas at global,regional or nationallevel. A panel of experts (academics and partyinternationals) are assessing the findings while the research databaseis becoming operational and gradually made available to partners.
Coming Soon The Implementation of Quotas: European Experiences
Thereport examines women’s political representation in Europe, and looksinto the use ofgender quotas as an important policy measure forboosting women’s access to decision-making bodies.
Experiencefrom Europe shows that although women’s overall representation inEuropean parliaments stand at approximately 18 percent, the differencesamong the countries is staggering: Kyrgyzstan has a low of 3 percent;Sweden has a high 45 percent. In all of Europe, only eight countrieshave legislated quotas at the national or sub-national level. In 27countries, political parties have voluntarily adopted some form ofquotas. The report looks into comparative experience of quotas, how tolobby for andimplement quotas, the challenges to implementation andenforcement, and political party quotas. It includes 17 regional andcountry case studies and will be available in January 2006.
This report is part of a series: IDEA has already produced three regional handbooks on the implementation of quotas: The Implementation of Quotas: Asian Experiences; The Implementation of Quotas: African Experiences and The Implementation of Quotas: Latin American Experiences.
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Contact information
Editor: Bénédicte Walter
Head of external relations: Ingrid Wetterqvist
International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance
Strömsborg
SE-103 34 Stockholm, Sweden
Tel.: +46-8 698 37 00
Fax.: +46-8-20 24 22
E-mail: news@idea.int
Web: www.idea.int
