Feature articles and editorials

Holding elections is not rocket science. But upholding the integrity of elections is another matter. Elections take place on a weekly basis around the world – not all of them in democratic countries, and not all of them marked by fair electoral competition.

Since the day when Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in Dec. 2010 igniting the Arab youth revolution, the Tunisian, Egyptian and Libyan people have undergone a long and painful process to topple their long dictatorships.

In Nepal, equal representation is a major agenda item for the women's movement. Women in Nepal have negligible representation in state mechanisms and other decision making bodies, and whenever they are present, their role generally relates to gender and children’s issues.  

Nepal is preparing to make a progressive leap with its Constituent Assembly (CA) – a move which has been possible due to the struggles of the Nepali people and their desire for change.

During the EMB Dialogue (5-8 December 2011), with participating election professionals from all over the world, IDEA’s new Policy Paper Introducing Electronic Voting: Essential Considerations was launched.

The 2011 Latinobarometer has found that Latin Americans are dissatisfied -and demand more from their democracies, institutions, and governments.
Despite the region’s economic recovery - after the global financial crisis - the truth is that most countries have not been able to maintain the optimism they recorded last year. The prevailing feeling in 2011 is one of discontent and pessimism, particularly Central America.

The Tunisian people, having set in motion the first footstep of the Arab Spring, has yesterday completed a first round of its nascent democracy by delivering the first ever democratic and genuinely competitive elections.

The upcoming Tunisian elections for the Constituent Assembly are scheduled to take place on Sunday 23 October, 2011. These are the very first elections of this kind in the region emerging from the Arab Spring.

The Secretary-General of International IDEA, Vidar Helgesen, warmly welcomes the award of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize to Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian activist Leymah Gbowee and Yemeni activist Tawakkul Karman. 

Although Egypt and Tunisia are yet to formally start their constitutional drafting processes, much preparatory work is currently underway. Part of IDEA’s efforts in Egypt and Tunisia focuses on contributing towards the respective country efforts in the design and process for drafting their permanent constitutions.

September 11 this year marked the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks carried out by Al Qaeda against the United States of America. It was also the tenth anniversary of the Inter-American Democratic Charter (IADC), which was signed in Lima, Peru, during the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS).

On this International Day of Democracy 2011, it is time to realise that we are now firmly in the century of the citizen. 

15 September is the International Day of Democracy. In 2011, with change sweeping across the Arab world, it is an occasion to reflect on how best to consolidate democracy, particularly in countries with a history of authoritarianism.

The construction of new nations, reflecting the views and aspirations of their own people, means that new “social contracts” are needed. In fact, one of the main sources of anger triggering the uprisings may be found in existing constitutional constructs that do not provide even for the minimal level of genuine democratic rule and principles.

The problems of citizenship in Nepal carry a legacy of a history of discrimination and marginalization of women. As a result, many people are left stateless and have no rights. If constitutional and political reform is to be meaningful, this issue needs to be addressed to ensure that citizenship, a fundamental right for all people, is available for all.

Latin America is unique when it comes to democracy and development. On the one hand, nearly all countries enjoy democratic regimes. On the other hand, vast sectors of the population live under the poverty line (close to 33%). Latin America has the most unequal income distribution and also the highest homicide rates in the world.

South Sudan is about to become the world's newest nation this weekend. After over 30 years of armed conflict with North Sudan, the southern part officially becomes a sovereign nation on 9 July 2011, following the referendum earlier this year.

"We want all of them to go away," was the desperate cry the citizens of Argentina hurled at the political elite in late 2001 as the crisis that started the year before dragged on. A similar scenario occurred in other Latin American countries too.

If a butterfly flaps its wings in Cairo, could this cause a hurricane in Beijing? Students of the so-called ‘butterfly effect’ know that small changes in one place can sometimes lead to enormous events in another.

Which institution should have the jurisdiction to interpret the constitution? How should dispute settlement between the provinces and the Kathmandu be addressed? Which institution should oversee the legality of the bodies set up in the Constitution? How can access to justice and trust in the judiciary be improved?

Achieving success in building sustainable democratic systems in countries emerging from conflicts depends on whether new and emerging governance structures are based on the principles of inclusive and effective participation and representation.

As if to make up for missing out on previous global waves of democratization, the “Arab Spring” has generated a pace and intensity of change that has fired global imagination.

“Gender equality must be treated as an explicit goal of democracy building, not as an add on’’, stressed UN Secretary General Mr Ban Ki-Moon during his opening speech at the Round Table on “Democracy and Gender Equality” held on 4 May 2011 in New York.

“Democracy for Peace, Security and Development” was the theme of the Sub-Regional Dialogue of the members of the Central American Integration System (SICA) and Mexico, held in Costa Rica in May 2011.

“We need to commit ourselves to decades of support for the long term process of building democracy” writes Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Kevin Rudd and IDEA’s Secretary-General Vidar Helgesen in an op-ed today.

Following the translation into Thai of IDEA's Code of Conduct for Electoral Campaigning, a Pledging Ceremony was held this morning (11 May 2011) at the Parliament of Thailand.

With its call for a no-fly zone over Libya, the League of Arab States has placed itself more firmly on the side of the Libyan people’s call for democracy than the EU, the US and the UN combined. It is indeed testimony to the revolutionary nature of these times.

In Egypt, the people took 18 days to force political change and reform. In Nepal in 2006 they took 19 days but that was the easy part: from day 20 onwards it got more complicated. Both countries show some remarkable parallels.

Citizen- led State of Local Democracy assessments conducted in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Yemen between 2008-10 provide a view of the overall challenges facing democracy in the region. The studies should be read by anyone with an interest in what is going on right now in the Arab world.

Over the past few weeks, observers across the world watched and admired the courageous acts of women and men in North Africa and the Middle East in defying authoritarian regimes and demonstrating their unwavering determination to take their future in their own hands.

International IDEA joins the rest of the world in commemorating the International Women’s Day on 8th March 2011, with the theme, Translating women’s presence into critical actions and influence.

The Women's Caucus of the Constituent Assembly (CA) has published its position paper entitled - Women's Rights and Agenda to be incorporated in the New Constitution. The recommendations by women CA members were prepared on the basis of preliminary draft reports and concept papers of the constitutional and thematic committees of the CA.

International IDEA has been supporting the Women's Caucus of the Constituent Assembly (CA) since its formation in early 2009. Here is a story of one of the CA members, a story based on her struggle, hopes and perseverance to bring people’s democracy and a federal republic to Nepal.

As occurred over the last two years, in 2011 Latin America will again live through an intense electoral agenda with five presidential elections: Haiti, Peru, Guatemala, Argentina and Nicaragua.

Both the world and the Arab region are changing and, in tandem with these changes, the demand for democracy appears to be returning with renewed vitality. Twenty two years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, seventeen years after the end of the apartheid regime in South Africa, thirteen years after the democratic reform in Indonesia, the 2011 democracy wave is about to engulf the Arab world.

The run-off presidential elections in Côte d’Ivoire held on 28 November 2010 carried many hopes: after a decade of violence, instability and international peacekeeping efforts, elections were expected to bring to the country a legitimate government and a lasting peace.

Informal electoral dispute resolution mechanisms successfully work alongside the formal structures in a number of South African Development Community (SADC) countries.

Recent controversial elections in Cote d’Ivoire, Haiti and Egypt highlight the importance of having robust processes for resolving electoral disputes. Allegations of fraud and incidents of election-related violence have raised doubts in the eyes of many about the integrity of those results. As the post-electoral period unfolds in these countries, benchmarks for a credible electoral justice system could easily be tested with the help of a new handbook, Electoral Justice: The International IDEA Handbook, just published by International IDEA.

Representatives of Nepal’s major political parties attended a meeting at IDEA headquarters in Stockholm on 7-9 December 2010 to develop a consensus on a number of contentious issues in the emerging draft constitution being prepared by the Constituent Assembly.

The deepening of democracy in Latin America – a phenomenon that has continued for the past 30 years – has much to do with the credibility of electoral bodies on the continent; particularly those responsible for handling grievances and determining electoral justice.

Nepal is currently reforming its electoral dispute resolution (EDR) mechanism as part of the development of its new electoral law. The aim is to have these arrangements included in the new constitution which is expected to be promulgated by May 2011, after which parliamentary elections will be held.

The Secretary-General of International IDEA, Vidar Helgesen, warmly welcomes the release from detention in Myanmar of Aung San Suu Kyi, who is an honorary member of IDEA's Board of Advisers.

After having persistently called for elections, Aung San Suu Kyi has come out stating that she will not vote in the upcoming election 7 November: since the junta has dissolved her political party, she has no one to vote for.

In a little over a year, important advances have been made to incorporate a gender perspective in Bolivia’s constitutional process. Over two years ago, International IDEA and the Women’s Coordinator signed an agreement in order to identify the remaining gaps on women’s rights in current legislation. The agreement also includes a strategy to develop new constitutional legislation based on women’s needs.

This year’s International Day of Democracy – September 15th – is also an opportunity to recall International IDEA’s 15th anniversary and to reflect on past and future challenges for democracy and adequate responses to them.

...has become widespread and there is a pressing need for electoral assistance providers and others to come up with a means of mitigating conflict during elections. Read International IDEA’s report Towards a Global Framework for Managing and Mitigating Election-related Conflict and Violence

The April 2010 elections in Africa’s largest country, Sudan, offered us a snapshot of some of the challenges currently facing electoral processes throughout the world and particularly in countries with a heavy legacy of conflict

The leading global training curriculum for election administrators, BRIDGE, has won the 2010 UN Public Service Award in the category "Improving the delivery of public services". Read more

International IDEA asked a number of high level people around the world to write discussion papers highlighting various aspects of the EU's policies and actions in different regions. Read what they wrote here . . .

La nueva década en ciernes se inaugura con la elección de otra mujer a una Presidencia de la República. Laura Chinchilla, candidata del Partido Liberación Nacional, ha llegado al poder en Costa Rica con el 46.8% de los votos. Por otro lado, en Chile, Michele Bachelet concluye su mandato con niveles de aprobación que alcanzan el 83%. Estas trayectorias dejan de ser anécdotas para convertirse en los nuevos derroteros para las mujeres en la política latinoamericana.

The new decade begins with the election of another woman president. Laura Chinchilla, candidate for the Partido Liberación Nacional, became chief executive of Costa Rica with 46.8 percent of the vote. In Chile, meanwhile, Michelle Bachelet is ending her term with an approval rating of 83 percent. Their stories are no longer mere anecdotes, but are charting a new course for women in Latin American politics.

On the surface, 2010 may look like a good year for women in democratic political systems around the world. At the same time, headline-grabbing achievements of women attaining executive power mask a global reality of lack of representation of women in political life.

International IDEA pays tribute to women of the world on International Women’s Day (8th March) with the theme this year being Travelling the road towards the empowerment and advancement of women.

International IDEA’s Bolivia programme is working with a network of women’s organizations to mainstream gender equality into all aspects of political life. One notable success was the Mujeres listas para las listas (Women Ready for the Ballot) campaign, launched by the Women’s Coordinating Committee, which resulted in a legal provision for gender equality on party candidate lists.

2009 has been a very productive year for BRIDGE training courses in Africa. International IDEA in partnership with the African Union launched an ambitious BRIDGE programme which trained 122 participants from 35 African countries during 2009.

The recent conclusions of the European Union’s Council on Democracy Support in the EU’s External Relations (Brussels, 17 November 2009) are a significant step in the right direction – a step that International IDEA warmly welcomes and sees as a strong echo of its own process of global consultations on the role of the EU in democracy building.

Rarely has an International IDEA event managed to connect so directly a major political concern of a Member State with an emerging global challenge to democracy. It was a courageous and farsighted move on the part of President Calderón to propose, at the very beginning of Mexico’s chairmanship of International IDEA’s Council, “Illicit Finance in Politics” as the theme of the 2009 Democracy Round Table.

How can traditional justice mechanisms and processes be applied in the context of large-scale human rights abuses and mass killings? The International IDEA report Traditional Justice and Reconciliation after Violent Conflict – Learning from African Experiences, just released in French, presents the findings of a major comparative study of the role played by traditional mechanisms in dealing with the legacy of violent conflict across the continent.

One important truism is that democracy is not only an end in itself but also an important means to other ends. From that point of view the recent efforts by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), based in Stockholm, Sweden, to carefully examine the nexus between democracy and development and how it can contribute towards effective partnership between the European Union and the rest of the world deserves special mention.

Those engaged in supporting democracy in their countries and in the world cannot fail to notice a thought-provoking calendar coincidence: this year’s worldwide celebrations of 15th September - the International Day of Democracy, overlaps with a somewhat less celebratory remembrance of the first anniversary of the global financial crisis.

A vital task of democracy-building is understanding the links between national elections and the wider dynamics of democratic change, says International IDEA’s Andrew Ellis.

‘Democracy is not about what governments do; it is what people do to make their governments accomplish things for the common good […].” These words pronounced by Peter Anyang’ Nyongo, when he headed the African Association of Political Science in 1991, still resound.

For the past twenty years people in the Arab world have been urging their governments to join the new wave of democratization that has been sweeping the world. While not averse to the idea, their leaders have been reluctant simply to import Western models of participation. What was needed were new mechanisms for giving people a voice in keeping with their own local customs and traditions.

When people of the Indonesian archipelago went to the polls last month (9 April 2009) it was a very different experience from usual. This time the traditional voting method of punching holes on ballots using nails had been replaced by something new.

The political arguments over aid policies and strategies in Africa are intensifying. But where does democracy fit in: what are the pros and cons of aid in relation to democratic consolidation in the continent? Anna Lekvall takes the pulse of current thinking in a key area of debate among donors, scholars, activists and policy-makers.

The forthcoming elections to the European Parliament (4-7 June 2009) will be the first test of civic engagement among its recently enlarged electorate of some half billion people. It will also provide fresh data about voting patterns which will feed into a new section on International IDEA’s website. Our Voter Turnout database already contains the most comprehensive collection of political participation statistics in the world and this now includes a dedicated area focusing on voter turnout in European Parliament elections.

The experience of creating new constitutions in Africa promises a transformation in the continent’s landscape of governance that will render coups obsolete, says International IDEA’s Winluck Wahiu & Paulos Tesfagiorgis.

A democracy worth the name must have women's equality with men at its heart. Thus gender equality must be an explicit goal for democracy-building processes and institutions, says International IDEA’s Rumbidzai Kandawasvika-Nhundu.

What impact will the recession have on democracy? One instinctive response may be: well, the economic boom did not have a uniformly positive impact. High prices of oil and gas have fuelled autocratic and/or populist tendencies in many countries and regions.

The European Union (EU) is a significant player on the world stage. It is seen as having a history and example from which others could learn from. It consists of 27 countries living out their own understanding of democracy. Yet it lacks a coherent voice.

Thirty years after the start of the third wave of democracy in Latin America, the “final frontier” for policymakers and civil society has been to ensure that democracy works for all citizens in equal measure, regardless of gender.  

International IDEA is launching the State of Democracy Network website. It aims to serve as a practical resource for anyone and everyone interested in assessing the quality of democracy in their own country.

The election of Barack Obama was hailed by world political leaders who hope it will usher-in a revival of multilateralism and a return to primacy of international law. Their hopes are important; they are certainly hopes that I share. Yet, they are largely generated by mistakes of the past.

The air in Pretoria is alive with thunder, lightening and talk of the upcoming 2009 general elections. This electric environment proved to be the perfect backdrop for the 4 December 2008 launch of International IDEA’s newest publication, Direct Democracy: The International IDEA Handbook at the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa) Kutlwanong Democracy Centre in Pretoria.

A week after Americans demonstrated the empowering potential of democracy by electing their first African American President a new guide has been published to help people around the world conduct a health check on their own governments and institutions. It has been developed by International IDEA and was launched at a seminar in New York on 13 November 2008.

Although some women have reached important leadership positions in Colombian politics in the past century, Colombia lagged behind other Latin American countries in women’s suffrage and adoption of a quota law, and much remains to be done to increase women’s access to the public sphere and their political participation and representation.

Last year the UN General Assembly established an annual International Day of Democracy to be celebrated on 15 September. Some may ask, what can an international day of democracy accomplish? Well, not much in itself. But what is significant is that UN member states actually have agreed that democracy is worth celebrating. In the run up to this first Democracy Day, the African Union Commission and International IDEA launched a Joint Activity Plan for supporting democracy in Africa.

Recent times have witnessed an upsurge in voices warning of a looming global crisis of democracy. The warning cries point to a variety of factors as providing substantive cause for alarm. Some, for example, highlight the negative political impact of rapidly rising energy prices. Others point to the continuing fallout from the military intervention in Iraq, ostensibly undertaken by the U.S. government in the name of democracy.

Popular support for democracy is as strong around the globe as it has ever been. But those who invest their hopes and their political commitment in democracy do not aim just at free and fair elections: they aspire to a more dignified and more rewarding life. The major challenge for democracy today is to deliver on its many promises.

Two important constitution-building processes currently underway in Asia are reaching a tipping point. Last week, the Nepali people elected members of a Constituent Assembly; while in May the Burmese people will vote on a draft Constitution.

As the sun rose over Kathmandu on April 10 on the cusp of the Hindu new year 2065, voters started appearing to get in line to elect a Constituent Assembly. The streets were deserted with no cars which gave a serene calm to the normally noisy, bustling horn-beeping streets.

Nepal is finally on its way to realize its long cherished dream of having a Constitution drafted by a popularly elected Constituent Assembly (CA). The demand for an elected CA was raised first in 1950, in the midst of anti-Rana revolution. But it withered away under the pressure of various forces; the assertive feudal vested interests that rallied around the Monarchy in the post-Rana evolution of polity, the compulsions of compromises by the democratic parties to remain in and around power and, the active connivance of international community, India in particularly, that preferred a gradual and controlled pace of political transition in the interest of stability and order. The aversion of all these three forces that have been shaping Nepal’s destiny so far, could not be shaken even by the first real popular uprising, Jan Andolan – I, in 1990, which notionally transferred sovereignty to the people but did not ensure their participation in the Constitution making.

Oatmeal gets a day (January 2). Potatoes get a whole year (2008)! And, in case you were wondering, herbs are feted the second week of May. March 8, however, is a day about people—not produce. For the more than 3.2 billion women on the planet, March 8 is the day when we are specially called to take stock, denounce the injustices, inspire through our stories, and celebrate our achievements.

International IDEA celebrates International Women's Day

Elections are divisive in nature. Indeed, one of the key functions of democratic elections is to clarify where the dividing lines between competing political forces lie.

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto on 27 December 2007 resulted in the rescheduling of parliamentary elections from 4 January to 18 February 2008. With the continuation of violence, some fear that the elections will be postponed yet again, or even worse that the army will interfere and cancel them.

How can traditional justice mechanisms and processes be applied in the context of large-scale human rights abuses and mass killings?

Following the hotly contested 2007 General Elections, an unprecedented wave of violence has hit Kenya.

As the number of countries holding democratic elections has increased, the ability of people to exercise their right to vote from outside their home country when an election takes place has become an issue of greater interest.

2007 has been a year of many developments in democracy worldwide, not least in regions where International IDEA has a strong presence. Latin America, a region which is about to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the Third Wave of democratization that spread like wildfire through the region in the late seventies, celebrated a tidal wave of elections over the past year. The great majority of these elections passed without a hitch. In Mexico though, the elections were seriously contested and the country experienced a very tumultuous post-electoral period.

Political parties are not exactly the darlings of public opinion. Just like politicians, parties usually get a bad rap: parties only want power, they abuse government and look after themselves rather than the public good. Sounds familiar? The public perception of parties in young or established democracies doesn’t differ that much either. But like them or not, modern representative democracy cannot do without political parties.

The stalemate in the Bolivian Constituent Assembly and the ethnic, regional, institutional and political conflicts that have arisen during its year of work illustrate why building a constitution — as opposed to drafting one — is a highly political process. The greatest difficulty the delegates face is not so much the actual drafting and approval of some 300 articles, but the process for examining the underlying issues.

The popular protests in Myanmar demonstrate the power of democracy. What they also demonstrate is how little the outside world can actually predict events. Conventional wisdom on Myanmar has tended to be that people are too oppressed and too afraid to stand up for democracy. In the last few days tens of thousands of Burmese have, literally, demonstrated otherwise. They deserve our support in their call for a true, democratic and inclusive national dialogue to build a better future for their country.

Democracy support has increased significantly in the last two decades and so has the debate on how to effectively evaluate its impact and account. A central question in the on-going debate is whether methodologies used should be different from those used for evaluating other areas of development support.

Development has been described as the gradual expansion of people’s choice. Democracy can be described in a similar way. Choice makes sense only if we are, and remain, diverse. Diversity becomes irrelevant if the possibility of choice is out of reach.

Human diversity is a defining feature of countries across the globe. And increasingly it is also recognized as a force for social good, something to be nourished and celebrated rather than feared, or pushed to the margins. But, as Norwegian State Secretary Raymond Johansen noted in his opening remarks at the International IDEA Round Table on ‘Democracy and Diversity’ held in Oslo on 12 June, how are we to respond to the fact that the more diversity you have in your society, the lower prevailing levels of social trust are likely to be? How, in other words, should modern democracies go about managing what he dubbed a ‘society of turtles’ – resolute individualists prone to retreat into their shells at the first hint of outside interference?

The public in Nepal favours a republic. That was one of the key findings in a national State of Democracy 2007 survey in Nepal conducted in April this year by the national team of the South Asia Democracy Study Group and International IDEA. Compared to the first round of the survey conducted in 2004, public opinion has shifted decisively on the issue of the country’s preferred constitutional arrangements, with an increase from 15 to 59 per cent of survey respondents choosing a republic over retention of the current monarchy.

The stakes for first post-conflict elections are high. Recent developments in Africa such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2006), Burundi (2005) Sierra Leone (2002) have proven that elections need to be seen as one link in the fragile chain of events that allow a country to emerge from years of conflict and pave the way towards the peace and “sustainable stability”.

It is official. The debate has moved on. South African deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said it openly in her opening address to the International Conference on Sustaining Africa's Democratic Momentum, which ran from March 5th-7th at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, that Africa's democratic coming of age is old news. The new story, said Mlambo-Ngcuka, is the quality of this democracy.

Political parties are arguably democracy’s weakest link. In Africa, barometer polls indicate that few expect politicians to even try delivering on election promises. In Europe, Latin America and Asian democracies parties are the least trusted among institutions – even if notably more South Asians have a positive outlook. This is a challenge not only to politicians, but to democracy itself. Few dispute the holding of multiparty elections as the prime criteria for a society to be recognized as democratic.

What has democracy done for South Asia and what has South Asia done for democracy? These questions recur in the State of Democracy in South Asia report, launched in New Delhi, India on 4 December 2006.

From Nepal to Bolivia, from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Georgia, constitutions are increasingly becoming hot political issues. Obviously, they are no longer merely seen as rubber stamps to confer official dignity to established political power. More than half of the member states of the United Nations have undergone constitutional reforms since 1974. While individually unique, these processes reflect certain global trends.

Democracy cannot rest on its laurels. The post Cold War belief that democracy had triumphed has subsided to reveal declining support for democracy in some parts of the world. This is mainly due to the perception that democracy has failed to improve peoples’ lives.

Between November 2005 and the end of 2006, Latin America has an intense and important electoral agenda. During this time 12 of the region’s 18 countries — hold presidential elections. The political map of the region will be redrawn.

The lesson was clearly not lost on President Bachelet. As part of an ambitious plan for her first 100 days, Bachelet has requested IDEA’s technical assistance in designing a sweeping electoral reform program. During my April 24 – 26 trip to Chile, this request served as the centerpiece of discussions with President Bachelet, Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley, Interior Minister Andres Zaldivar, Women’s Minister Laura Albornoz and representatives of the press and civil society in fashioning IDEA´s technical assistance program. Under the program IDEA will provide expert technical assistance and comparative knowledge in exploring alternatives to Chile’s highly unique electoral system—the binomial system—which has served to encourage the establishment of the two major coalitions, building in congressional stability to the point of immobility.

In recent years, Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Iraq, Indonesia, Palestine, Sierra Leone have all faced immense challenges in preparing elections. In some of these places, such as Sierra Leone, Indonesia, and Palestine, electoral assistance has proven to contribute to stability, and better electoral processes. In others, large sums of money have been spent on electoral technology which will need to be maintained after polling day.

Michelle Bachelet in Chile. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in Liberia. Angela Merkel in Germany. Maria do Carmo Silveira in Sao Tome and Principe. Luisa Diogo in Mozambique. Tarja Halonen in Finland. Helen Clark in New Zealand. These presidents and prime ministers are not the first women to lead countries, but they share a trait with the world’s first democratically elected female president, Vigdis Finnbogadottir of Iceland: they were elected on their own merits. Since its founding in 1995, International IDEA has understood that women’s participation in politics was, and remains, central to democratic governance.

As the new secretary-general of International IDEA, I find it intriguing that a principle so universally accepted as democracy is also so complex in its implementation and maintenance.